Start All Over
by ss10009
Summary: Yusuke's world has been turned upside down when a dimension controlling demon redefines what his world is. The challenge? Find me, then defeat me. But both steps are impossible without his friends, who no longer know Yusuke or their mutual adventures.
1. A Lapse in the Timeline

"Start All Over"

By ss10009

Genres:  
>ActionAdventure; Humor; Drama; Supernatural  
>Languages:<br>English; some romanized Japanese

Disclaimer:  
>YuYu Hakusho does not belong to the author of this story. Those rights go to Yoshihiro Togashi. This fanfiction is created for purposes not associated with profit. Meaning that, if you paid to read this story, well, you're a damn fool.<p>

Summary:  
>Warudo, a dimension controlling demon, has successfully turned Yusuke Urameshi's world upside down by changing exactly what Yusuke defines as his world. Find me, then defeat me, Warudo challenges. But both steps are impossible without Yusuke's friends, who, in this new dimension, do not know of him or of their mutual adventures.<p>

Timeline:  
>...Must it matter?<br>Spoilers:  
>There are three rulers of Demon World and one of them is Yusuke's—! I'd recommend watching all four animated seasons, in whatever language you should happen to choose.<p>

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**CHAPTER 1 - A Lapse in the Timeline**

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"A mission, Yusuke? That's a pretty tired excuse considering the fact that you quit working for Koenma three years ago." Keiko was annoyed, that much was obvious. Her hands were on her hips, which were currently clothed in a summer yukata. It probably all had something to do with the fact that, as of today, it had been exactly one year since she had tackled him on the beach, allowing them to share their first real kiss. As Keiko had been hinting at for the past three weeks, this counted as their anniversary. "If you didn't want to go to the festival, you should have just said so instead of lying to me about a new mission. The first option hurts less, you know."

"I'm not lying to you! And it's not that I don't want to go," Yusuke said, trying to avoid the fact that he seriously didn't want to go as skillfully as possible. He hated the idea of having to get dressed up in traditional clothing, then taking a two hour train ride to some small town, and winding up in some overly romantic festival that would end with him saying the wrong thing to Keiko by accident, thus forth causing her to slap him and not speak to him for three days. He knew it was going to end like that. It _always_ ended like that.

Yusuke took a deep breath. "It's just that doing this favor for Koenma is more important."

"More important than our anniversary?" Keiko asked, angrily.

Yusuke looked confused. "Anniversary?"

"You forgot," Keiko said quietly, her voice sounding less angry than it did earlier but definitely more hurt.

"No, I—I didn't... I just... Was waiting for the perfect time to say 'Happy Anniversary.'" Yusuke paused. "Happy anniversary," he offered, trying to sound sincere and not like a screw up.

But Keiko was Keiko, meaning that she could always tell when Yusuke was being a screw up. You didn't spend your entire life around someone and _not_ know when they were pulling something out of their ass, after all. Keiko turned away from him. "Go on your mission, Yusuke."

"Keiko—"

"_Just go!_" Keiko replied, taking off and running upstairs, leaving the restaurant area of her family's ramen shop and going off to the living quarters.

Yusuke called after her, twice. She didn't respond though, and Yusuke was fairly certain he heard a door slam. He sighed. What did the hell did she want out of him? He loved her—and more than anyone else. Girls were just too damn particular these days. It was complicated, all of it. But he'd apologize later, because, as it turned out, Keiko had been wrong. He actually did have a mission with Spirit World.

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Nothing in Koenma's office seemed to have changed since Yusuke's last visit a few years ago. The desk chair, however, was empty, and Koenma didn't seem to be around anywhere.

Yusuke didn't let this bother him, and instead took it as an opportunity to talk to his old teammates. It had been a long time since they'd all been in this setting. Sitting around and conversing, waiting for Koenma to tell them exactly how the world could possibly end next... Sweet nostalgia.

Whatever conversation might've began was immediately cut short, however, as the large doors to Koenma's office were opened abruptly. Koenma strode to his desk, long legs walking purposely to the workstation overflowing with paperwork.

"Sorry for the wait, folks," Koenma said. "Long time no see."

"Pacifier breath," Yusuke greeted, with joviality. "Sure has been a while."

Koenma's eye twitched ever so slightly; he was in adult form, but it was like no one had noticed. "As you know, I have a mission for the four of you. Just like old days, huh?"

"We don't need your attempts at nostalgia, Koenma," Hiei said.

"I can see the team dynamic hasn't changed a bit..." Koenma muttered, and then proceeded by clearing his throat. "There's some trouble in Demon World. A fairly charismatic demon has taken it upon himself to try and cut out a portion of Human World for him and his followers."

"Warudo," Kurama said, "I've heard of him. Lately, he's been given the border patrol quite a bit of trouble, right, Hiei?"

Hiei's response came in the form of a grunt.

Koenma nodded. "It's not that he's high classed. It's just that he's got legions of followers. It's more a case of stamina and endurance on border patrol's end than anything else. Although..." Koenma broke off, looking as though he were trying to decide whether or not he should finish his sentence.

"Although...?" Yusuke prompted.

Koenma winced. He had concluded that it would save him a lot of hassle if he just shut his mouth, but it was too late for that now. "Although his power might be slightly problematic. He mainly fights using either his fists or a sword, but there are rumors that he can do more. Mind you, they're just rumors."

"More as in... what? Like magical dress up abilities in some kind of shoujo anime?" Kuwabara asked.

"Watching shoujo? Somethin' you need to share with the class, Kuwabara?"

"I don't watch it! I was just using it as an example, Urameshi!"

Koenma cleared his throat. "Some say he can control time and space."

There was a pause.

"OK, am I the only one who thinks that time and space controlling demons sound really, really dangerous?" Kuwabara asked.

"Your worries are primarily unfounded," Kurama replied. "Think of this situation in terms of probability."

"Oh, _God_, this sounds like math class," Yusuke said, prepared to drown out everything Kurama was about to say just like he'd done with his junior high algebra teacher.

"The ability to control any of the five dimensions, width, height, depth, time, or space is quite rare. No known breed of demon is associated with any of these talents. Demons with these abilities don't seem to pass them on to offspring, making the distribution of the ability completely random. A dimension controlling demon would have to be considered one that controls all five of these principles, simultaneously. Which is next to unheard of, before now, of course."

"But all you're saying is that they're really uncommon? As in, extremely uncommon? How's that make this guy less dangerous?" Kuwabara asked.

"You remember the demon class system, don't you? How the majority of demons are very low level, and only a handful will ever make it to A or S class level?"

Kuwabara nodded.

"Combine the probability of becoming a high class demon with the probability of being able to control all five dimensions. It's theoretically plausible but..."

"Highly unlikely," Hiei finished. "Whatever he _may_ be able to do with dimensions isn't our main concern. Besides, it's not unlike a demon to lie about their powers in order to build up a reputation."

Kurama nodded. "True."

"So the main concern is...?" Yusuke prompted.

"Stopping him before he can break through the barrier and reap havoc and mayhem among humans. It can take some ability to get into human world, but," Koenma said, "once there, damn near any demon can make the place his playground."

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"Exactly how long is it gonna take for this guy to show?" Yusuke asked. "And why do we have to do this in stakeout format?"

"Yeah," Kuwabara agreed. "Are we trying for an element of surprise or something?"

"We're waiting," Kurama said, slightly exasperatedly. It was the third time he'd told Yusuke and Kuwabara this. The two of them, particularly Yusuke, who was accustomed to rushing in, fists flying, were like children on a long road trip: unfailingly impatient. "Eventually, he will come to us."

"Is that before or after we die of old age?" Yusuke asked. "Or maybe just plain boredom?"

Kuwabara stopped fidgeting, a thoughtful look on his face. "Is that even possible, dying of boredom?" he asked.

"You see why I hate this whole 'stakeout' business, Kurama! That doofus is never going to shut up!"

Kuwabara spoke indignantly, "Hey, I'm not a—!"

"Would the both of you be quiet?" Hiei asked, bitingly. "You sound like a pair of children complaining to a parent."

Hiei's metaphor didn't feel inaccurate. If Yusuke and Kuwabara weren't an old married couple, than they were definitely a pair of preschool siblings. Kurama, lucky as ever, was playing the role of mediating mother.

There was a rustle in the trees that didn't go unnoticed, and immediately the group tensed.

"You guys hear that?" Yusuke asked in a low voice.

Kuwabara's eyes darted between several trees, unable to precisely discern the sound's exact source. Hiei and Kurama, however, had their eyes trained on an inconspicuous tree in the middle of the forest.

"There," Kurama said softly.

The enemy demon dropped whatever cloak of surprise he might've been trying for and leapt from the tree, accompanied by about four others.

They were small in stature, smaller than Hiei, and their only words were a series of hisses. At the most, they might have been lower level 'D' class.

"Is this supposed to make us lower our guard or something? Or are they serious?" Kuwabara asked, eyeing the four demons. He wondered if he should use his spirit sword or just his fists.

A few moments later, it was discovered that whatever beings these were, they could talk. Albeit in small, barely coherent sentences.

"Kill, spirit detective," they chanted, gathering around the group. "Kill, kill, k—."

Hiei was the one to act, slicing through them all with a quick movement of their sword. If it had been a few years back, Kuwabara would've only seen a couple of blurs.

Once the creatures lay dead at their feet, the forest they were standing closely to seemed to come alive with eyes. Emerging from the darkness, many creatures, looking similar to the ones than Hiei had just slayed, lunged with vigor.

Their vigor, thankfully, didn't seem to help them much, considering their severe lack of power.

"Is there strategy to wear us out?" Kuwabara asked, using his spirit sword to slice through roughly three of the small demons at once. "Or just annoy the hell out of us? 'Cause if it's the ladder, then they're really succeeding."

"If either of those, then the former," Kurama replied, slicing through several with his Rose Whip.

It took several minutes to clear the forest. Kuwabara's sentiment that the demons were only there to provide them with annoyance felt more accurate by the second. The demons were attacking from all directions, and, although they were easy to kill, it took longer than any of them would've liked. Any attack that could eliminate them all at once would be too risky to use, in case it took out a teammate.

"Finally," Yusuke breathed, punching a fist into his palm. "I'm not even sweaty or anything. Good-for-nothing bastards. Could've at least given me a warm up."

Kurama looked thoughtful. "That was most likely a distraction then. Those demons were much too weak to threaten any of us, so they weren't ordered to attack us to try and drain our energy. Warudo should know better than that, considering our strength."

"Maybe they weren't ordered? I mean, plenty of demons hated all of us because of the Dark Tournament and all of the demon-busting we've done," Kuwabara offered. "It could be a coincidence."

"There are no coincidences," Hiei said. "The only other explanation is that Warudo wasn't expecting us, or any high class demons, to show opposition to his plan."

Kurama agreed, "That's a real possibility."

"So let me get this straight. Warudo might not know we're here, meaning that we've got the element of surprise on our side. Or Warudo knows we're here, and he's trying to distract us. Meaning that we've got to find out what the hell he's trying to distract us from finding out."

Before anyone could deliberate on either possibility, a newcomer entered the clearing.

Three claps of his hands. That's all it took for the newcomer to announce himself as the stereotypical conceited villain. Yusuke rolled his eyes, turning to the source of mock surprise, which, presumably, was Warudo.

"Close, my friends, but no cigar," said the airy, feminine voice. The holder of the voice had skin tainted a pale blue, and wore robes that looked fit for a prince. His hair, which forcibly reminded the group of Karasu's, in the sense that it was long, black, and gleaming, was tied in a ponytail. "I've known the entire time that you were here; I just wanted to keep you occupied until my arrival. Some of you appeared to be bored." He directed this last comment at Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"You're Warudo," Kurama said, in a tone that said he wasn't seeking confirmation.

"Did I not introduce myself? I'm quite sorry. My name is Warudo, a future leader of Human World. Though I can see that there are opposing factions that would prefer I not have such an addition to my title. That's why the four of you are here? The former detectives of the Spirit World, correct, right?"

"And you already talk too much for my taste," Yusuke said, frowning.

"It's been a long day, I'm sure. And my tardiness surely didn't help anything. If you must exert some frustration, then feel free..."

Yusuke didn't need the invitation. His fist had landed in Warudo's face before the metrosexual demon could properly finish his sentence. Warudo's body hit the ground. "If you didn't piss me off so much then I would've gone easy on you, especially considering the fact that you looked like you might be afraid to get your clothes dirty. But you do, so I didn't."

Warudo slowly got off of the ground, his right cheek gashed and bleeding. He didn't look like most people who had just gotten punched by Yusuke. Or, in other words, he was still conscious.

"But civility is wasted on some," Warudo said, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket and wiping away at the blood lazily. "If you want a brawl, then I've got no choice other than to deliver."

It must've been a code word or something. No sooner had he said it than a million demons (or at least a hundred) seemed to emerge from the trees. They weren't particularly powerful, but with their en masse arrival, they'd distract the others while Yusuke fought Waldo. The majority of them seemed to be 'C' class.

"Now, Yusuke Urameshi, you will face me," Warudo said, his voice sounding decidedly more sinister. But despite the increase in sinister qualities, his voice still wouldn't have scared off a butterfly.

"I don't really like being told what to do," Yusuke said. "But since I've been wanting too so badly, I guess I'll have to take the invite."

Warudo began to square off, and Yusuke followed suit. Yusuke observed Warudo for several moments, thinking about what Genkai said about rushing in without information. Warudo really didn't seem like anything of a challenge, though. He was more of a pompous annoyance. But even a pompous annoyance could have a few tricks up his sleeve.

_Some say he can control space and time._

But...

_Whatever he may do with dimensions isn't our main concern._

He wasn't going to get his ass kicked by this guy. What had Kurama said?  
><em>Theoretically plausible...<em> But, as Hiei had finished, _highly unlikely._

Yusuke was about to break the stalemate himself when Warudo beat him to it.

He came at Yusuke with his fists flying, and, for a few seconds, Yusuke wanted to burst into laughter. This guy couldn't be serious.

And he wasn't.

Warudo's form improved moment before the punch made impact. He went from klutzy fool to skilled martial artist in a few milliseconds. Soon, Yusuke's skull began to throb.

"Bastard," Yusuke growled, more towards himself than towards Warudo. He'd just been thinking about not getting caught off guard by surprises! That pissed him off more than anything.

It was the last time Yusuke let his guard down, and he returned Warudo's punch with interest. The fist fight continued, and the spirit energy gathered within Yusuke's fists steadily increased.

Suddenly, Warudo jumped away from the fight in a quick series of back flips.

Friggin' show off, Yusuke thought.

He pulled an extremely small dagger from his belt, and took on, what Yusuke presumed, was what this guy took to be a sword stance. It was on the same level of ridiculous as his wind up for throwing a punch.

"And you're planning on doing what with that?" Yusuke asked. "'Cause it sure as hell can't be fighting."

"I won't try to defeat you with this dagger, Mr. Urameshi. No, I'll try and defeat you with this sword."

Yusuke's eyes narrowed, not seeing the sword in question. In a few seconds, however, the dagger extended, forming a full length sword. It was thick and long, and, Yusuke mentally snickered, probably compensated for something.

"A magic dagger, if you'll excuse me. They're quite easy to carry. A friend of mine has an affinity for them, and he insisted upon giving one to me."

"Well, if you don't mind, let me get my weapon out, too," Yusuke said, aiming his finger towards Warudo.

Warudo ran towards Yusuke with a quick burst of speed. Yusuke adjusted his aim again, though not before Warudo's sword could make contact with his chin. It was a fairly deep cut, Yusuke thought, not anything to put him in mortal peril but still... The fight would have to end quickly.

Warudo drew back, as did Yusuke. He charged again, but this time Yusuke was ready. As Warudo jumped into the air, to attack Yusuke from above, Yusuke fired his spirit gun.

Warudo's body hit the ground with a thud.

Yusuke put his finger down and began to walk over to where Warudo lay, immobile. "Still alive down there, Warudo? No? Good. 'Cause if not I'll have to do that to you again."

"There will be no need," Warudo said, his voice choked, though still polite sounding. "Soon I'll be quite dead to this world. This world. But you haven't really won, Yusuke Urameshi."

"I haven't won? This isn't exactly the Dark Tournament. None of that technicality shit flies here," Yusuke said.

"Trust me when I say that you'll see what I mean. If you want to win, Mr. Urameshi... Assemble each key player. If you can do that you can give it another try. To find me, then defeat me."

"Defeat you? For all your pomp and circumstance you're not very bright are you? You're lying on the ground and dying. You've already been defeated."

Warudo's final gesture was a smile. A stupid-looking pompous smile.

It bothered Yusuke, though he wasn't sure why. Find me, then defeat me, Yusuke thought. He tried to brush it off as Warudo having a sudden case of deathbed insanity, but still...

Apparently Warudo's goons hadn't realized their boss was dead yet. Or, seeing as Koenma had mentioned that Warudo had copious amounts of charisma, perhaps they were fighting to avenge the guy or something. Did it really matter?

Yusuke joined the fight with his friends, occupying himself with the seemingly endless stream of 'C' class demons.

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Yusuke dragged himself home, arriving there about a half hour before midnight. He pulled off his clothes and took as quick a shower as he could. He was covered in grime, but he didn't think it would be particularly befitting to have the hero of the day fall asleep and drown in the hot streams of water coming from the shower head.

Wrapped only in a towel, Yusuke emerged from the shower, staring at the phone. He should call Keiko... She probably wouldn't be awake though, unless she was cramming for some test. Yusuke did recall her mentioning something about an upcoming history exam. But, then again, Keiko tried to avoid cramming for tests at the last minute.

His hand reached for the phone anyway, dialing her number. The phone rang and then re-directed Yusuke to the answering machine. Briefly, he debated whether or not to leave a message. He decided on "not," returning the phone to its cradle. It was best this way; now he'd have time to get his act together before he messed up. Again.

Tomorrow is a new day, Yusuke thought. She won't be anywhere near as pissed, and we'll be back to where we were. Wherever the hell that was.

With this somewhat comforting thought, Yusuke slipped beneath the covers of his bed, closed his eyes, and was out cold within seconds.

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Notes:

1 - About the name Warudo

WA-RU-DO isn't a standard Japanese name, I'm sure you've noticed. I tried to do one of those weird English translation... things. Warudo was first supposed to be bad English for "world," but then I noticed how close it was to "Waldo." And how appropriate that would be. Where in the world is Waldo? So it's more like a Japanese translation of Waldo, I guess. Oh, what's that? No one actually cared about the back story behind the name? Oh... I'll shut up now. Sorry.

2 - About the Japanese usage

Oh, and I spent a lot of debating on use of Japanese. I wasn't sure if I got it right, though... Should I have said "Urameshi-san" instead of "Mr. Urameshi?" "Reikai" instead of "Spirit World." At the same time, though, I know how annoying it is to have someone use incorrect, fan girl Japanese for no apparent reason, so... I decided to make it a stick-to-what-you-know situation. Hope it doesn't bother anyone!

3 - About the fight scene

I don't think I've ever really written one before. I've avoided "Action/Adventure" categorization for that very reason. Somewhat. Kind of. Anyways... Was it too vague or detailed? Did it make sense? Did it seem YYH-verse possible?

4 - The Yusuke/Keiko

For some reason I'm in love with this pairing now. Don't ask me why. It's so... canon. I usually don't go for that type of thing.


	2. The Family in the Photo

"Start All Over"

By ss10009

Disclaimer:  
>YuYu Hakusho does not belong to the author of this story. Those rights go to Yoshihiro Togashi. This fanfiction is created for purposes not associated with profit. Meaning that, if you paid to read this story, well, you're a damn fool.<p>

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**CHAPTER 2 - The Family in the Photo**

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It was like last night had never happened, Yusuke surmised. His body didn't feel sore, and he felt well-rested. His injuries yesterday hadn't been particularly substantial, but they were moderate enough to leave some lingering pain, perhaps a tiny scar or two. Maybe even three.

Gentle sunlight, vaguely warm and pastel, floated in through the window. With his eyes closed, Yusuke noticed exactly how quiet it was in the apartment he shared with his mother. Not a rarity, considering that Atsuko was often hung over early Sunday morning. If she had made it home yet, that is. Though it was a little odd to not hear some traffic on the streets. Yusuke considered it a blessing and buried his face deeper into his pillow. Just a few more minutes of lying around, thinking of nothing...

Just a few more minutes of a Sunday morning.

Yusuke drifted back off to sleep, and didn't bother with waking up again for another two hours. It felt good to adhere to no schedule, unlike school days where he was supposed to be out of bed before seven.

The operate phrase there of course was "supposed to be." Unless Keiko dragged him out of the house, it wasn't unusual for him to sleep in Monday through Friday as well.

Keiko, he thought distantly, opening his eyes and staring at the ceiling. Is she still mad at me?

Of course she was still mad at him. Twelve hours was not enough time for Keiko, not the Keiko he knew, anyway. This would at least stretch out until the first time he saw her in person again. She wasn't going to get over it until she'd slapped him a few good times… But considering how hurt she'd looked yesterday, he was starting to worry that maybe this was more than his average screw up. Things were going to go back to normal between them, whatever the hell that was, right?

Yusuke winced. He'd watched enough TV to know that, to girls, anniversaries were a big deal. Though he'd also seen enough TV to know that guys often forgot about them completely. So... Shouldn't Keiko have expected him to forget? When had he ever been romantic anyway?

He ditched the topic entirely and rolled out of bed. He groaned as his feet connected with cold hardwood.

"What the hell?" Yusuke asked, speaking to no one in particular. "Wasn't there carpet here last night?"

Yusuke frowned, staring at the floor. There was nothing there but dark brown hardwood. He turned around. His bed looked closer to the ground than usual, a change he should've noticed before.

The more he looked around the room, the more foreign he realized it was. It didn't even seem to be his room at all.

Yusuke blinked. Once. Twice. Three times, in quick succession.

"What happened?" Yusuke asked, his voice sounding somewhat dazed. It was understandable to be a bit jostled in this kind of situation, though. Going to sleep in one place and awakening in a completely different place can have that sort of effect.

Yusuke walked to the door. He had to slide it open instead of turning the knob. Yet another difference between his room and whatever-the-hell room this was.

The door wasn't locked, if you could even lock a traditional sliding door, which could've been a sign that he wasn't here against his own volition. Yusuke remained on edge, however.

As he exited the room, he entered a vaguely familiar hallway. He felt as though he could place it, or at least its decor, yet he couldn't come up with a name. His guard eased up somewhat, though. His mind was registering it as a friendly place.

It wasn't until the hallway turned off into a room with a large TV, complete with several gaming systems, that he realized exactly where he was.

Genkai's temple.

This knowledge comforted him, yet raised more questions. Why the hell was he at Genkai's when he'd fallen asleep in his own bed last night? He re-entered the hallway, searching out Genkai in what was beginning to feel like a spider's web. He made up some conjecture as he went.

"I... I must be more banged up than I thought," Yusuke said. "Maybe I went comatose for a while and everyone's stepped out?"

Yusuke paused, thinking about it for a second. He couldn't recall losing consciousness at any point during or after the fight, except for when he laid down in his own bed, at his own apartment, to sleep. It wasn't particularly logical for him to think he'd been in a coma. Especially since, with a glance towards a nearby calendar, it was only the day after the fight. But no other explanations were leaping into his head. Except maybe Genkai kidnapped him for some unknown reason and then left. Which made less since than the coma line of logic. Had Grandma tried to date rape him?

Yusuke shuddered visibly. That line of thought was not worth considering.

He continued to wander down the hallway, still confused.

"Has that photo always been there?" Yusuke asked himself aloud. Genkai's place had always been barren in terms of sentimentalities. But there on the wall was a photograph of her and Toguro. Nothing wrong with that, he supposed. Once upon a time, they'd been pretty close friends. Although, you know, he did kill her eventually. And then he'd tried to kill Yusuke. So, maybe there _was_ something wrong with that. It was weird, at the very least, to see Toguro smiling, sans shades, looking young and happy. Genkai's hair was more pink than bubblegum, and Toguro didn't look demonic at all.

So I'm probably not in a main hallway then, Yusuke surmised. I've never seen that photo before. I must be in some weird part of the house. It's so damn big... This must be one of those hide-it-away-in-a-corner type photos. Wait. Did they even have cameras back in Grandma's day?

Yusuke expected to eventually find some place that he remembered, some place that didn't have odd photographs on the wall. He was only half satisfied. The more he walked, the more he remembered these hallways as the main hallways. But the more he walked, the more weird photos he saw.

The photograph next to the young Genkai and Toguro was undoubtedly more weird. Probably due to the fact that Toguro was wearing a fancy looking suit, and Genkai was wearing a white dress. Like a wedding dress. But that couldn't have been possible because Genkai wasn't married. And definitely not to Toguro. It didn't matter how damn official that dress and the matching veil and the bouquet of flowers in her hands looked. Genkai was an old, unmarried hag, in the nicest sense of the word. She was too busy living in the middle of nowhere and randomly kicking ass to have gone and gotten married.

On the other hand, the photo did look legit.

"Grandma... got married," Yusuke sputtered. "Is that one of those 'What happens in Vegas' type stories? Or...?" Yusuke didn't know how to finish "Or..." and so he remained silent, transfixed on the image before him. His mind was forced through a new series of hypothetical situations as his eyes caught hold of the new photograph, which showed Genkai and Toguro together with a young boy, probably three or four years old. He had dark hair and was wearing a green shirt and blue jean shorts. The little guy looked oddly familiar. Genkai and Toguro were a little older in this photo, though still at least forty younger than Yusuke had ever seen them.

But the next photograph sent his head spinning. Probably because he could recognize himself as the little boy. He was younger here, about six or seven, with a broad grin on his face, wearing a crisp looking gi. Toguro stood next to him, probably about forty, smiling just as broadly.

Yusuke would later consider not passing out right then there and then his proudest moment in life.

With that photo, more came. All of which included him in some form or fashion.

And for a split second, a new explanation crossed into his head.

I'm Genkai and Toguro's son.

But that was just like suggesting that Kuwabara's cat, Eikichi, had drugged him and dragged him out here. And then gotten on Photoshop and printed out these images on the wall.

Somewhere, some place, there was a perfectly logical reason for all of this...

He just had to find that "somewhere" and "some place."

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Throughout the entire house, there seemed to be no trace of Genkai. Meaning that, for now, he wasn't going to be getting any answers. Apart from himself, the temple was empty.

Yusuke had figured that out about two hours ago. And that fact hadn't changed.

Now Yusuke was seated on the floor of the living room, game controller in hand, watching Liu Kang beat the hell out of Shang Tsung.

"Finish him," the game commanded.

"What are the buttons for the flaming death thing?" Yusuke asked. No one answered him of course, going back to the Empty House point. He gave his best shot at the buttons, hoping he'd luck out.

For all the dumb luck Yusuke had had in the past, there wasn't a stroke of it here. After a difficult match, Shang Tsung fell with one punch.

"Dammit," Yusuke swore. "Kurama always remembers the buttons..." He and Kuwabara never had any luck at that matter, however.

He switched the console off and pulled out the cartridge. Opening a nearby cabinet, he replaced the cartridge and fooled around, trying to find something else to do. It felt like he'd played every video game here twice, which was, of course, untrue. Genkai had enough video games to satisfy the needs of even the hungriest gamers.

His fingers landed across a dusty looking VHS tape instead. After a little bit more inspection, Yusuke found it to be the only one within the drawer. He blew across its top and read its title.

Family Memories.

Even though it was several hallways away, Yusuke felt as though he could see Genkai's portraits right in front of him. A wedding. A little boy, himself. Him sitting on Toguro's shoulders...

He shuddered, thinking of what kind of horror movie he must be holding in his hand. But, like most teenagers, he was two things. One, nosy. And two, an avid fan of horror movies.

"Be kind, please rewind," Yusuke muttered, rolling his eyes as he popped the tape into the VCR and re-wound it. Whoever had watched it last had left it at the very end of playback.

Genkai's VCR seemed to be more adept at rewinding than his own (his took about ten minutes, it felt like, to rewind a thirty minute tape), and soon Yusuke was able to press play.

A few minutes later, he really wished he hadn't.

He really wished he hadn't.

The tape began with the sound of noisemakers, the kind you find at a birthday party. And there was some little kid, who, Yusuke realized, a nervous lump forming in his throat, must have been him.

The little guy looked plenty happy, eyes bright and smiling like there was no tomorrow. It felt embarrassing, watching himself so young and vulnerable. So innocent. You could tell by the way his fingers were fat and small that he'd never thrown a punch before or anything.

Not that babies were supposed to go around knocking people out.

Though it would be kind of amusing if they did, Yusuke thought. And it definitely seemed like the sort of the thing that he, as some sort of Mazoku baby, should have been doing.

The miniature Yusuke was wearing a yellow party hat and reaching for one of the noisemakers. "Give me," little Yusuke said, his speech barely coherent in a mess of toddler jumble. The noisemaker little Yusuke was reaching for happened to be in someone else's mouth.

In Toguro's mouth.

Yusuke, the Yusuke who wasn't on screen, spluttered. This tape was moving, digital reinforcement of the photo he'd seen on the wall. Well, not the exact photo, but the idea behind it. You know, the whole paternal Toguro idea.

It was freaky, to say the least.

"Alright, little guy," Toguro said. And his voice sounded gentle and fatherly, like he was going to start cooing at any moment. He removed the noisemaker from his mouth and handed it to Yusuke, who gave a victory coo.

At first attempt to use the noisemaker, little Yusuke inserted it into his mouth the wrong way. After several big puffs of air, there was no satisfying noise to reward him. He started to get frustrated, and, with the way toddler's emotions go, was soon on the verge of tears.

"C'mon, Yuu-chan," a new, female voice said gently. The camera was placed, most likely, on the table, and the angle changed. What before had been a wider shot of Yusuke and Toguro turned into a shot solely of Yusuke. A hand, probably belonging to the female voice, turned the toy around and placed it properly in Yusuke's mouth.

A newly joyful Yusuke drew a large breath and released what was, to him, a delightful sound. He started laughing and the noisemaker fell from his lips. It was the world's funniest joke, apparently, as the little guy was soon caught up in his own giggles.

Little Yusuke eventually regained his ability to breathe and stop laughing, though he was still smiling broadly. "Cake," Yusuke said. "Cake, cake, cake," he chanted.

"What's the magic word, Yusuke?"

"Peas?" Yusuke tried, leaving out the 'L' in a way that Keiko would have deemed "completely adorable." Soon, the space in front of Yusuke, on his high chair, included a tiny piece of white cake.

Yusuke dipped a finger into it, covering one digit with icing and rainbow sprinkles. "Mmm," he said, testing it. His next attempt at consumption wasn't as petite, and he involved his entire hand in the cake eating process. The majority of what he gathered was smeared around his mouth.

Both Toguro and the female voice were laughing. And Yusuke, although he clearly didn't get what they were laughing at, joined in as well. His laughter was downright infectious.

Of course, you can't really infect yourself with something, so the present day Yusuke was just standing there, agape. If he'd started laughing now, he probably wouldn't stop until sedated and in a straitjacket. This…wasn't happening.

The camera on the table was readjusted, and soon both Yusuke and the source of the female voice were on camera. Genkai.

God, he should have known it. The voice sounded somewhat like her, though, again, it sounded younger. And the pictures should've led him to know it was her, but...

And then Genkai lifted Yusuke from his high chair, drawing him to her chest. The camera zoomed in. "I love you, Yuu-chan," she said.

"Lub you, mama," Yusuke replied.

And Yusuke stopped the tape. He couldn't take anymore. He was going to lose it...

"You're not crazy, Yusuke," he began to mutter to himself. In hindsight, muttering to himself wasn't doing anything to help the possibility of his insanity.

He backed into the wall slowly, beginning to feel sick. What was going on? He just wanted to crawl back into bed and sleep until it all went back to normal. It felt like the walls were spinning, but Yusuke knew it was just his head. And whatever the hell was left of his sanity.

"So you're a little crazy, but you're not crazy enough to think up all of this," Yusuke said, changing his mantra. He could only repeat this once, though, because it was somewhat more lengthy than his previous saying.

His body slid down the wall until he was left in a sitting position. His mind was blank.

Or at least it was until an explosion of sound came from behind him.

"HAPPY EIGHTEENTH BIRTHDAY!"

This was met with Yusuke's own cry of "WHAT THE FUCK?"

Yusuke quickly turned, facing the source of the noise. It looked like the couple in the picture, otherwise known as Genkai and Toguro. They were both smiling broadly at him, each holding a present in their hand.

It was some of the weirdest shit Yusuke had ever seen.

He calmed for a second, remembering briefly that he'd already been eighteen. Hadn't he? Yes, he had. He'd celebrated that birthday with Keiko, right? Not too long after he'd gotten back from Demon World. And she'd given him... a special present.

Not elaborating, thought Yusuke, giving a broad, mental grin. This brief distraction was ended quickly as he remembered exactly how strange the nature of the situation he was in was.

"Language, son," Toguro chided.

Son, Yusuke wanted to splutter. He relinquished the urge to do so, however, as he let shock continue to be his driving force.

"Wasn't expecting..." Yusuke said stupidly. He wasn't exactly sure how to finish that line, considering the fact that he hadn't been expecting any of what was happening right now.

"Us to jump out at you?" Genkai asked. "It was his idea, and the fact that you didn't expect it is pretty obvious."

Yusuke laughed nervously. They were walking closer to him now, and for some strange reason Yusuke wanted to run. What had happened to the world? Genkai and Toguro were looking on at him with...love and happiness, essentially. That "it's your special day" feeling was trying to force itself into the room, against Yusuke's will. Like some kind of emotion rapist. It was _not_ his birthday.

Yusuke slowly got to his feet. The question he wanted to ask, you know, "What the hell is going on?", refused to come out.

"This way," Toguro said, motioning towards him. "We made lunch for you."

"Sorry about breakfast, Yusuke," Genkai said. "There were a few last minute details we had to straighten, involving the dojo."

Yusuke said nothing. He followed, figuring that, whatever strange dream this was, because it had to be some lengthy, awkward, detailed dream that just felt really real, he probably wouldn't meet harm by it. Mental scarring, yes. That part had already happened. But would he die? He doubted it. And even if he did, it wasn't like it would be a new experience for him. They say the third time's the charm, after all.

Three pairs of footsteps, Yusuke's, Genkai's, and Toguro's, continued onwards down the hallway. Finally, as they neared closer and closer towards the kitchen, Yusuke's voice began to return to him.

"So, what's going—?" Yusuke's question died on his lips as he saw the feast laid out in front of him.

Tempura, chicken katsu, crab sunomono, blue fin sushi, traditional cucumber rolls, piles of rice, and chichi dango.

The crab alone had him sold.

Questions, Yusuke decided, could come later. Or at least after he'd gotten himself a plate full of food.

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Small talk had been awkward.

Well, in Yusuke's mind it had been. Or maybe it just made him feel like cringing. Everything seemed to flow between Genkai and Toguro, but Yusuke felt like a sore thumb.

He couldn't bring himself to have a civil, mind-numbing conversation with Toguro, because... Well, damn, he'd never done it before. And Genkai, this dream Genkai, was different. Apart from physically younger, caught somewhere between her youthful persona and the stage that Yusuke knew her at now, she was also... softer.

Yeah, she still seemed caustic and edgy, but her personality was different. She seemed to give into sentimentality nearly as much as she gave into sarcasm.

Which, in Yusuke's mind, was friggin' insane.

But he didn't say anything. After the crab had disappeared into his stomach, he worked on the blue fin, and after the blue fin there was still the chicken, and so on and so forth.

In fact, as Yusuke was reaching the end of his plate's contents, he lost his opportunity to say anything at all.

"Eighteen," Toguro said, pushing his plate forward in a way that signaled a transition from casual conversation to serious business. "You've been alive on this Earth for eighteen years now, Yusuke."

"Yea, me," Yusuke said flatly.

"If only we could've had you for all eighteen," Toguro said.

Yusuke didn't even bother feeling confused, or, more confused. Maybe this was an explanation, finally. Toguro had come back from the dead, gotten hitched with Genkai, who'd taken like, shit loads of Botox or something, and kidnapped him in order to play happy family. They'd probably drugged him and made him sign a contract somewhere along the way, too. A guarantee that he wouldn't sue them for mental damages…

"You're going to...?" Genkai asked, her question unfinished as she looked intently at Toguro.

Toguro's response was a nod.

"Son, for a long time there's been something that we've been meaning to tell you," Toguro said, his gaze focused upon Yusuke.

He was never going to get used to Toguro calling him 'son.' He just wasn't. Contract be damned.

Toguro now broke his gaze with his "son," to look towards Genkai.

Genkai spoke, "Eighteen years ago, when you were born... I wasn't the one to give birth to you."

The situation was growing weirder by the second. Yusuke wanted to ask Genkai why the hell she though that he thought that she was the one to give birth to him. Complicated wording for a simple enough question. But he couldn't get the question to come out of his mouth.

Instead...

"W-what?" Yusuke asked. The follow questions of: "Why the hell would I think that you did?" and "I just finished eating, could you please change the subject?" didn't quite come out.

"I... This may be difficult for you to understand, Yusuke, but... Biologically. I'm not," Genkai glanced at Toguro quickly. "We're not..."

Yusuke stared at the both of them, hoping that something would happen in the very near future that gave him a clue as to what the hell was going on.

From his pocket, Toguro extracted a photograph of a young woman with brown hair. She had the unhealthy, yet lively look of a hardcore party girl.

"Atsuko," Yusuke said, staring at the photo. What was Toguro doing carrying around a photo of his mom? Had the final threshold of weirdness just been crossed? God, he hoped this wasn't going to get any worse.

Genkai and Toguro both looked a bit startled at this. They didn't acknowledge what was on their minds, though, and they continued on.

"Yusuke, son, this is your biological mother, your birth mother. Urameshi Atsuko was her name," Toguro said. "You're adopted."

The line was so classic, "you're adopted," that Yusuke kind of wanted to laugh, in a sick way. He vaguely remembered being six or seven and wishing that Atsuko wasn't his real mother. His real parents were the Yukimura's and Keiko was his sister, or something like that.

Of course, nowadays, he was quite glad that Keiko was not his sister. (Again, Yusuke remembered his eighteenth birthday surprise...) And he was fond of his mother, even though she could've done a better job in raising him.

Apparently, Genkai and Toguro had been expecting for a reaction with more grandeur. Yusuke's face remained blank for several moments.

"I don't understand," Yusuke said slowly. Because honestly, he hadn't had a damn clue what was going on for the past few hours.

"You were a little over two years old when you went into the foster care system. Your mother, Atsuko, couldn't take care of you any longer. She had drinking problems, and you... you weren't attended to in the way that you should've been."

Toguro gritted his teeth, in a protective sort of way. Yusuke surmised that he must've remembered a situation where Atsuko had neglected Yusuke. Negligence be damned, Yusuke was way more concerned about Toguro's aggression over his well-being.

It was just wrong. Attempted homicide trumped negligence any day, right? And hadn't that been the gist of the finals of the Dark Tournament?

Genkai picked up the story from here on out. "Being a girl that does martial arts apparently sucks when you're trying to have children, and... Your father and I decided that the only way for kids was to adopt. We got you out of foster care only a few months after you'd entered it."

"Oh," Yusuke said. It was all he could get out. There was a lot more he wanted to say, but he didn't know where to start. This could not be real. Because if this was real, if he wasn't just having some kind of crazy, hyper-sensitive dream, then he was going to lose his mind. "Any moment now," Yusuke said, staring at both Genkai and Toguro blankly, "I will wake up. And none of this will have happened. Right?"

This reaction seemed to be one that Genkai and Toguro had feared. They exchanged looks and began a rapid-fire conversation in hushed tones. Their voices weren't so low, however, that Yusuke couldn't interpret what they were saying. It was a collection of "I knew we shouldn't have told him"'s and "Disbelief is a defense mechanism that lets him deal"'s.

But the more they talked and argued about whether or not they should've told him "the truth," the more his chest constricted. The more he felt like panicking over the entire situation. The more his teeth gritted against each other, and a vain in his forehead, one he'd never recognized before, felt like it was going to pop.

Even as the conversation between Genkai and Toguro died and Toguro turned to face him, Yusuke still felt distressed.

"Son—," Toguro began.

And that one word, that one friggin' word, caused Yusuke to explode.

"I... I can't deal with this!" Yusuke shouted. "You're not my mother, and you sure as hell aren't my father. What the fuck is going on? I don't get it..."

This was another reaction that Genkai and Toguro seemed to have feared and anticipated.

"How is this all even possible? Yesterday was normal but this... I don't understand."

He had stood up from the table now. When he had risen, Yusuke was unsure of. And he wasn't entirely sure of what his next actions would be. Though he was fairly certain that storming off would be one of them. So he did so.

Yusuke left the compound with no further words. Distantly, he could hear Genkai calling after him, and Toguro telling her that she "had to let him go." That she had to let him deal.

Everything here felt so familiar and yet so friggin' foreign.

How had his life been turned upside down like this? Was this some kind of sick, elaborate joke? Who the hell was messing with him?

_Find me, then defeat me_.

He heard the voice like it was a distant memory, lacking in clarity or even the certainty that it was real. And then it came flooding back to him.

How shitty could his memory get? It had only been yesterday. Warudo had been lying on the ground, dying, and he'd said...

"_Soon I'll be quite dead to this world. This world. But you haven't really won, Yusuke Urameshi... Assemble each key player... find me, then defeat me."_

All that talk of "this world…"

"An alternate dimension," Yusuke decided upon suddenly. He was walking down the long flight of stairs that led both up to and away from Genkai's property. The words felt foolish as they left his mouth.

Koenma had said that Warudo was rumored to have the power of controlling time and space. But then Kurama had said that the chances were virtually zero that a demon with that kind of power could exist. They were just supposed to stop Warudo from creating chaos on Earth, not from creating a new dimension.

But...

But if it wasn't Warudo, then what could it be? There was no other theory in his mind, no other possible explanation. He'd been pondering the subject for hours now, and nothing had come to him that made a lick of sense. Nothing until now. Nothing until Warudo. It had to be true.

Yet the idea was so mind boggling and troublesome.

Yusuke reached the bottom of the stairs and paused. His mind felt murky and covered in thoughts about Warudo and the possibilities of alternative dimensions. He shook his head.

"I am not in another dimension. I'm Yusuke Urameshi, not Yusuke Toguro. My mom might not know the first thing about parenting, but I still live with her. I'm only Genkai's student, not her adopted son. And I killed Toguro, so there's no way he can be my adoptive father. Or Genkai's husband."

Yusuke paused. "Right?" he asked himself.

He didn't feel very sure of anything anymore.

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Notes:

1 - Mortal Kombat

I'm totally humming the theme song right now, but anyways... This isn't so much a note so much as a confession. I couldn't remember the finishing moves, so I watched a video on YouTube with all of them (nostalgia). However, since there are tons of different versions of Mortal Kombat, I'm not sure which version Yusuke should be playing to have timeline accuracy. But then I realized that this story, this clearly AU story, doesn't have a timeline... Also, I'm not sure if I got/described Lui Kang's finishing move correctly. It was purposefully vague but even then...

2 - The Birthday Party Video Tape Scene

That scene was like, the worst to write. I felt incredibly weird writing it. And when I re-read the chapter before I uploaded, I couldn't even review that scene again. So I'm extremely sorry if there are errors or anything in it. Did anyone not feel weird reading that?

3 – The Condition Genkai's Talking About

If you exercise too much, you can stop getting your period due to a condition called amenorrhea.


	3. The Train to Tokyo

"Start All Over"

By ss10009

Disclaimer:  
>YuYu Hakusho does not belong to the author of this story. Those rights go to Yoshihiro Togashi. This fanfiction is created for purposes not associated with profit. Meaning that, if you paid to read this story, well, you're a damn fool.<p>

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**CHAPTER 3 - The Train to Tokyo**

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The train felt more hushed than usual. Yusuke could hear every motion of the train clearly in the cabin, and there didn't seem to be much, if any, conversation.

The silence was starting to bug him. He'd spent the majority of yesterday alone, and, as of now, he was taking the latest rail available out to Tokyo. He was used to being a loner, but that didn't mean he was used to silence. It was good he'd had some money in his pocket, though. Otherwise, his plans might've had to include backtracking to the compound and begging Grandma for some.

Correction. Not Grandma. Apparently, adopted mother.

Yusuke put his hands behind his head, leaning upwards to stare at the ceiling of the train car.

With nothing to do for the remaining duration of the trip, Yusuke was pretty damn close to giving in to the urge to... make a plan. His style primarily involved winging it or getting struck by a spare bolt of dumb luck at the final moment. But now, with nothing else to occupy his mind...

Go to Tokyo, Yusuke thought, find Kuwabara or Kurama or somebody and ask what the hell is going on.

This was the extent of Yusuke's planning.

It would probably be about eleven at night or so by the time Yusuke got into the city. That wasn't a proper visiting hour or anything... It would be a lot more sensible to just go back to his own apartment and give them a phone call first. But then, he might just be able to crawl underneath the covers, close his eyes, and wake up to the realization that he'd been dreaming.

Or was the last one too much wishful thinking?

Yusuke closed his eyes, yawning. He didn't really want to go to sleep here, on the train, the eerie train of silence, but it was quickly becoming a temptation. Yusuke resisted however, as he refocused on the situation.

So this Warudo guy screws with my universe, Yusuke thought, and it's my job to fix it. But it's not just _my_ job. What was it that he said? Assemble each key player? Does he mean re-create the battle? Me, him, Kuwabara, Kurama, Hiei, and about a thousand lackeys. Well, the lackeys probably aren't key players. That's kind of the definition of a lackey. But then I've got to find and defeat him. So he must be hiding somewhere. And how the hell do I defeat him? I thought I got the job done last time, but...

Yusuke saw himself, firing his spirit gun. He'd hit Warudo dead on, seen him fall to the ground, seen the life leave his eyes. And yet Warudo hadn't truly died.

"_Soon I'll be quite dead to this world. This world. But you haven't really won, Yusuke Urameshi."_

God, he hated it when the bad guy didn't actually die. They could be like zombie bop bag hybrids sometimes. Just coming back from the grave for more. And then coming again back for a little bit more. And a little bit more.

Frustrating didn't even begin to cover it when it came to defeating those guys. It reminded him of the fact that, although Older Toguro was suffering forever, he wasn't really dead either. It made him wonder how many other guys he'd thought he'd killed that might just come back to taunt him. Any day now, Suzaku would be sending lightning bolts at him all over again.

With his fists clenched, sudden annoyance overcoming him, Yusuke didn't think much about sleep anymore.

Maybe it'll be like in all those animes, where you've got to chop the bad guy into seven pieces and put each piece in random spots all over the world. Is that how you defeat a dimension-altering demon? Yusuke wondered. Or maybe the whole point of me gathering up everybody is so that we can all kill him together? Is that what you're supposed to do? Like, my spirit gun, plus Kuwabara's spirit sword, Kurama's rose whip, and then Hiei's dragon? All at once? Or is that overkill? Is there any kind of "overkill" in terms of this guy?

And just why had Warudo told Yusuke how to kill him anyway? Well, not exactly how to kill him. The man was like elusive embodied. But he'd given him a hint. Was it because he was just arrogant? Like the average bad guy? Or was he trying to lead Yusuke into a trap? Like your slightly above average bad guy?

His mind drove him around in circles, with answers escaping him at every possible turn. By the time Yusuke's frustration had neared its peak, the train had halted, arriving at the station in Tokyo.

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Step one, Yusuke decided, was to find Kuwabara. Not only was Kuwabara a key player, probably, but he was also the closest to the station, by Yusuke's estimation.

Kuwabara could give him a place to crash at, too. Seeing as Yusuke's mom had taken flakey to a whole new level in this dimension, his own place would be out of the question.

Walking from the station to the Kuwabara residence felt unbearably creepy. There was nothing out there in the darkness that Yusuke couldn't handle, especially in Human World, but he still felt uneasy. The stars didn't register in the city, and they were replaced, instead, by streetlights. The usual night sounds—crickets, sirens, and drunks, were still present. But it didn't feel right. There was something off color about all of it.

Warudo couldn't have penetrated the Human World already, right? It was his goal to dominate it, but if a demon were to take over Human World, it would be a lot more evident than just a bad feeling. There would be death and destruction, violence and vice. He probably just wasn't used to this new dimension. Everything about it felt wrong, dark or light.

He was overthinking, that was all.

Yusuke scoffed. Him? Overthink? Wouldn't Keiko and Kurama love to see that day.

Sounds began to fade as he left the vicinity of the train station. Just feet on the pavement, the gentle thud of sneakers hitting sidewalk. Yusuke passed a park, seeing empty swing sets and merry-go-rounds. Monkey bars, he thought idly. He'd been the King of the Monkey Bars. An unofficial king, of course, and it had been a self-coronation, with Keiko present as the only witness.

Keiko...

It wasn't two days since he'd last seen her, but he missed her.

She'd have been pleased to know that, he thought. That he did think about her. That she was important to him, but stuff just kept getting in the way. It was a matter of prioritizing, not importance. Kill bad guy now, get a chance to snuggle later.

He wasn't always sure that she knew that.

And then it was feet on the pavement again. The playground had passed, giving way to apartments and empty sidewalks. Another block and he'd be at Kuwabara's place. He could almost see the apartment complex in the distance.

Yusuke's gait lengthened as he drew closer. A funny feeling welled itself inside of Yusuke's stomach. Was he anxious? Didn't he just want a way to get back to his own time and take his friends with him? But Yusuke knew that wasn't it. Exactly what he was feeling, he couldn't figure out. But that wasn't unusual for him. Hadn't Genkai mentioned there was a "wall of crap" between him and his emotions?

Tonight just wasn't the night to start digging.

Yusuke ascended the stairs, finding that he was tempted to take them in sets of two as opposed to one. He resisted though, and climbed them relatively normally. The fourth floor felt a lot farther than usual.

It had a creepy vibe, like in a post-apocalyptic movie or something. Everyone's gone except for one guy, which was him. But Yusuke knew that was stupid; there had been people on the train. It was just how this dimension felt. Evil demons naturally make evil dimensions; it's practically the way of life.

When he reached the door to the Kuwabara household, he knew he wasn't just imagining anymore. It was silent, a given considering that it was going on midnight. But the way his knock resounded on the door made him feel that the apartment was empty, too. He twisted the knob.

Unlocked.

Yusuke entered, absent mindedly searching for the light switch he knew was a few inches away from the door. The apartment was just as empty as Yusuke had surmised. Perhaps even more empty.

The apartment more than lacked all of the Kuwabara's furniture and decor. In certain areas, the place was covered in an inch of dust. The only area that looked as though it had seen human life any time recently was the kitchen, which was gutted, probably for remodeling.

Was that the funny feeling in the pit of his gut? Was it trying to tell him that things were going to be harder than he thought?

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The first thing he did, after leaving the complex, was kick a can. Kick this can instead of picking a fight. It was in his way, Point of Reasoning 'A.' And, Point of Reasoning 'B,' if Yusuke didn't kick something, he'd be forced into admitting that he wasn't as close to getting back to his own dimension as he wanted to be.

The can led him into an alley, dark and vacated, like the alley archetype. He stopped kicking the can when he realized that he was somewhat lost. He took a look around, trying to figure out where he was. The funny thing, however, was that in the dark, pretty much everything looked alike. And even in broad daylight a hell of a lot of alleys looked the same.

He groaned and took an alley at random, hoping it would lead to somewhere vaguely familiar.

In a way, it did.

Yusuke had grown somewhat accustomed to walking in on gang meetings, after all. Special clubs, where you joined together to beat the shit out of people, Yusuke had always thought of them as. He'd never joined one, though. Unless you counted Team Urameshi; they'd been special and frequently put in work in the ass kicking department.

A gravelly-looking thug, with a serious case of midnight shadow, turned to face him. "Get lost kid," he said. His voice, low and threatening, would have sent the average human running.

Thankfully, Yusuke wasn't the average human. He wasn't even entirely human.

"Already am lost," Yusuke said. "But I'm looking for somebody."

"What the hell do I look like? Information? I told ya to get the hell outta here!"

It was probably a long shot, Yusuke thought, Kuwabara wasn't in to this kind of thing anymore. Ever since he'd started high school, he'd gotten way more serious. With one more year before college, the last thing Kuwabara would be doing was fighting for turf. But this was an alternate dimension, so...

"Do any of you know if Kazuma Kuwabara stays around here?"

The thug growled. "I don' got a damn clue."

"Okay..." Yusuke said, ignoring the thug's growing anger. "Anybody seen him? Heard of him? Vaguely remember anything related to him?"

"I told you, kid, ain't never heard of no damn Kuwabara. Keep asking, and I'll tell you what I have heard of though." The thug flipped a switchblade open. Yusuke hesitated. Was he even allowed to fight normal humans? It was like an automatic death sentence for them. He hadn't had to fight off thugs for years now, which was pretty damn fortunate for them.

In the end, his decision was made for him. The thug put his switchblade up. "Nah, you remin' me of myself a couple years ago. Young and stupid. Now go home to your ma 'fore I show you the sharp en' of that."

Yusuke didn't argue with the guy. Why bother? In the end, useless thugs were useless thugs. They weren't good for much of anything. Not for staying out of trouble, not for showering, not for knowing where your best friend was...

Yusuke turned, navigating himself through the alleys, wondering what his next choice should be. He could try his own place, though that was slim. He didn't have a place out here, after all. Or he could try Kurama's, perhaps? Kurama, as a successful member of society, had his own place, his own apartment, unlike the rest of them. But this dimension could mean he was still living with Shiori.

Yusuke shrugged. Kurama's place and Shiori's were both a ways from here. It would be in his best interest to catch a train or a subway to get there. He didn't see either of those, though. No big deal. He'd taken a much longer run, without stopping, to get to Toranin.

Yusuke turned, finally finding himself on a street he knew. And then it was feet on pavement, sneakers on asphalt, just trying to get to Kurama's.

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He tried the apartment first. A high rise that primarily housed young business executives. Kurama, as a quickly climbing worker of his stepfather's company, fit in here quite well, at least theoretically. But did anyone really make perfect housing for ex-fox demon thieves who'd turned into Mama's Boys?

Yusuke couldn't get the past gate, though. He needed a key card or a pass code; he had neither. Kurama had probably given it to him earlier. Yeah. He could see that. Kurama told him the number, Yusuke wrote it down, and then he put it in his wallet. So, in the real dimension, Yusuke might not be faced with the dilemma of not being able to get inside Kurama's apartment complex to visit.

In this dimension, he was.

Yusuke groaned, wishing that he'd visited Kurama more often. Then he might've memorized it. Dammit. Some close friend he was.

Kurama lived on the third floor, and Yusuke snuck a peak at it through the complex's high iron bars. He couldn't see any lights from the front, but Kurama's apartment was in the back. There was a view of a garden on that side, which Yusuke was pretty sure Kurama liked.

I guess it's time for a break in, Yusuke thought. A camera to his left stared at him, asking if he'd really be so defiant as to commit breaking and entering with it watching. A normal human might've backed away from the challenge.

But again, Yusuke wasn't a normal human.

A few moments later, he was on the other side of the gate. Kurama might be pissed at him. If he was even in his apartment, that was. And if he wasn't. Well... He didn't plan sticking around long enough to deal with the possibilities of the law.

It didn't take him too long to get to the other side of the building. He took a few steps back and looked up at the third floor. He didn't see the blinds Kurama had hung up. Yusuke only saw an empty, dark window.

Failed pursuit.

He swore. Probably because he couldn't find a can to kick. There wasn't an ounce of litter around this place. Environmentally aware bastards, Yusuke thought.

Jumping back over the fence felt harder than jumping out. There wasn't much hope on the other side, after all.

Then again, he did have Kurama's mom's place. This dimension was batshit crazy, so Kurama could still be living at home. It was probably past one in the morning, the hour when reasonable people likely figured it was quitting time.

Yusuke was as much a reasonable person as he was an average human.

On the bright side, the distance from here to Kurama's old place was shorter than his apartment to Kuwabara's. It'd be a little less walking on his part.

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By the time Yusuke reached the house, he'd walked enough, in total, to make him feel like he deserved something, anything. It had to have been two hours since Yusuke got off the subway, yet he hadn't accomplished anything tangible.

Yusuke strode up the front walk, though he was already beginning to feel like something was missing.

I should probably try his window, Yusuke thought. If he's not here, I'm going to wake up his family. Then again, they could always tell me where he is. Yusuke glanced towards Kurama's window. It was on the front side of the house, fairly close to the door. He winced as he realized that he couldn't sense Kurama here.

He rang the doorbell and allowed the sound to reverberate through the house several times before he pressed his finger to it again. He could hear the faint rustling sounds of someone coming towards the door. Likely Kurama's stepfather, coming to find out who the hell would be at the house at one in the morning.

Wrong guess.

The door opened, revealing a teenaged boy in pajamas, tousled hair, and bunny slippers. A thousand yen note was in his outstretched hand.

Shuichi, Yusuke recognized him as. Just not the _right_ Shuichi. This one was Kurama's younger step-brother.

"You're not the pizza guy," Shuichi said stupidly.

"I'm not," Yusuke said. "Look, I wanted to see if you know where someone was. Someone that was... supposed to live here."

"You're looking for my parents?" he asked, his dumbstruck shock quickly wearing off. "They're at the hospital right now."

"No, not your parents. Have you ever heard of Shuichi Minamino?" Yusuke asked.

Shuichi looked confused. "I'm Shuichi Hatanaka," he said. "Minamino is my mom's maiden name. Well, not maiden name. She's my stepmom, and she's been married before, so it's the name of her old husband. Shuichi Minamino could be a relative in her ex-husband's family, I guess, but I've never heard of him."

"Never?" Yusuke asked, looking for a confirmation that he didn't really need.

"Never. But when my mom gets back from the hospital, I can ask her. She's not, um... doing so well right now. Or I could call her, if it's really urgent. The doctors don't know really know when," Shuichi paused here. Yusuke could tell that, in the back of his mind, he was thinking about _if_ Shiori would ever get to leave the hospital. (She wasn't going to though, Yusuke surmised, seeing as no one in this dimension was going to be around to save her. Fucking Warudo.) "When she'll be better."

Shuichi paused, contemplating something quickly. "Hold on a sec," he said, racing away from the door only to barrel back a few seconds later. He was now holding a yellow tablet and a pencil. Meiou High School was written on the pencil's side. "Just write down your name and number and I'll call you when she finds out."

"It's not that big of a deal," Yusuke said, beginning to back away. There was nothing Shiori could tell him about Shuichi Minamino. Except, maybe she'd mention how, if she had a son with her previous husband, she'd have named him Shuichi.

"You're here at one in the morning. Sure it's not a big deal?" Shuichi called after him.

"I'm sure. Thanks, though."

There was the sound of a slamming car door, signaling the arrival of the pizza guy. Any further protest Shuichi might've had about him leaving were forgotten.

Upon retreat, Yusuke figured out what was missing from the house. The tree that Kurama slyly kept filled with cherry blossoms, even during winter months, was gone. Its presence, its fragrance, its petals... Just like Kurama.

Gone.

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He was walking around aimlessly now. He wasn't unfamiliar with the concept, of course. As a juvenile delinquent it was kind of his default setting. Walking aimlessly was legal, standing aimlessly was loitering. And it was stupid to get another notch on your rap sheet for something like loitering.

He'd left Kurama's neighborhood, safe and family-friendly, for downtown. This was one part of Tokyo that wasn't so empty. The sounds of humanity pleased him slightly. Drunken laughter and crude cat calls. When he was a little kid, it had been like a lullaby for him. The stranger aspects of the dimension were beginning to fade a little. As long as the nightlife was still on the rise, everything couldn't be all that different? His mom, Atsuko, not Genkai, was probably out there partying and damn near passing out wasted. A horny drunk couple would be off to a love hotel. Someone was out there taking shots en masse to commemorate their twentieth birthday…

And people were still following him.

"So who the hell are you, and why'd you take it upon yourself to track me down?" Yusuke asked. "Because honestly, I'm not in the mood."

He turned, only to look into a face that he'd seen before. Tall, lanky, long black hair...

"Kuroko Sanada?" Yusuke asked, squinting slightly in the face of the first Spirit Detective. He was unsure of what to do next. In the normal dimension, she had been a friendly face. Until he'd proven that he wasn't exactly sure how much of him was demon and how much was human. What was she to him in this new dimension? Should he take fighting stance or give her a "long time no see?" Had it been a long time?

"Your mother said you'd probably be out here somewhere," she said. Friend, not foe, Yusuke decided. Kuroko paused. "And that's Auntie Kuroko to you, you know that. Now come on."

Kuroko, Auntie Kuroko, apparently, left the alley, indicating that Yusuke should follow her.

"And exactly where are we going... Auntie Kuroko?"

"Back to my place. Do you know anyone else in Tokyo who'd take you in at," Kuroko paused, glancing at a glowing digital watch on her wrist, "nearly one in the morning?"

"Apparently not," Yusuke muttered. Especially considering the lack of mother, lack of apartment problem, he thought.

The pair walked along in silence, with Kuroko leading the way. "Do you know how irresponsible it is for you to be out this late, running the streets in an unfamiliar city?"

"It's not _that_ unfamiliar," Yusuke argued.

"Because the handful of times you've been here were sufficient in really knowing the city? Knowing where all the trouble spots are? And then being able to tell where they are in the dark?" Kuroko sighed. "Yusuke, I don't want to see you get killed. I know eighteen is two years away from being an adult, but if you're not careful, you might not make it. Even if you are prodigal in respects to your power, you're not ready for this."

Yusuke remained silent. It was a good idea, in this new dimension, to just let everyone else do the talking. What did she mean, he wasn't ready for this? He didn't feel like he'd taken any drastic cuts in terms of his strength or spirit energy. But then again, she seemed to know that. The threat against Tokyo must've been humongous.

It took little time to make it back to Kuroko's place. Her apartment was located in a dangerously tall skyscraper complex. The building seemed to extend past the low hanging clouds and straight to the moon.

"Surprised you're not talking about how tall it is. You used to go on about it for at least a few minutes before we got inside. I guess you really have grown up." Kuroko gave him a sentimental look, clearly remembering little boy Yusuke, maybe even the one from the VHS tape.

"Yeah, I guess so," Yusuke replied.

"Nothing's changed since the last time you were here," Kuroko said as they entered the lobby. "I had a brief affair with danger and unpredictability and considered moving to the fourth floor, but it passed. I'm still on the second."

She guided him over to the elevator. There was virtually no wait for the car to arrive, and, once inside of the elevator, Kuroko swiftly pushed the button labeled "2."

There were at least fifty other buttons on the panel.

"You've been quiet," she said, stepping out of the elevator and taking a turn towards the right. "I know that... Well, Master Genkai called me, and she's informed me of the situation. If you want to talk about it, then-."

"I don't want to talk about it," Yusuke said. It came out a lot more harshly than he had intended. But he would much rather prefer talking about finding his absentee friends, defeating Warudo, and getting back into his own dimension instead of angsting about being adopted. "I... The train ride was long, and I didn't get any sleep on it. I'm just tired, sorry."

"No problem, of course," she replied. They had reached her apartment now, and she had unlocked the door. "I made you a bed in the living room, and you left a pair of sweats here the last time you visited. So those should still fit you, I hope. Bathroom is on the left, if you need it. Hungry?"

"Not really," Yusuke said. "I'm just tired," he emphasized again.

"Alright then," Kuroko said, walking towards another room, probably her bedroom. "I'll see you in the morning, Yusuke."

"Night," he called lamely.

The sweats were on top of couch, which was folded out and covered in blankets, sheets, and a pillow. It didn't look all that uncomfortable. After a quick sojourn to the bathroom, where he put on the comfortable, only slightly-to-small sweats, he discovered that the couch was downright soft. Thoughts of Warudo, Earth's possible peril, and his relocated friends all left his mind.

Within minutes, Yusuke eased himself into a round of sleep. Which, he soon discovered, held the same satisfaction despite the dimension.

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Notes:

1 - Trains and Tokyo

I don't know how long it takes for a train ride to get from Genkai's to Tokyo. Also, I'm not totally sure that Yusuke lives in Tokyo. Did it ever say something specifically? Can we just assume that all unnamed cities in anime are Tokyo?


	4. Of Answers Unsought

"Start All Over"

By ss10009

Disclaimer:  
>YuYu Hakusho does not belong to the author of this story. Those rights go to Yoshihiro Togashi. This fanfiction is created for purposes not associated with profit. Meaning that, if you paid to read this story, well, you're a damn fool.<p>

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**CHAPTER 4 - Of Answers Unsought**

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Muffled words.

"I assure you. He's still here."

He felt like he was hearing the world through a sleepy lens. He was pretty sure he could roll back over and go for another round or two of sleep. What was up with him and exhaustion lately?

"How do I know? I'm looking straight at him."

His ears felt so warm, too. Like they had been dipped in a bowl of... Warm stuff, Yusuke thought lamely. It was summer, but it felt like winter, when you just don't want to get out of bed, and your toes feel cold. His pajama pants stopped halfway down his shins, though he was fairly sure that they were supposed to extend more. And that they weren't supposed to feel this tight.

"Of course I'll tell him. Goodbye, Master Genkai."

And that voice. That voice sounded just like Kuroku Sonada's. Hadn't that been her name? The first Spirit Detective. What was she doing here—?

Right. Of course. Eight hours of sleep had deluded him enough to completely forget his situation.

Yusuke sat upright immediately.

"Morning, Yusuke," Kuroku said, glancing towards him.

"Morning... Auntie Kuroku."

Kuroku beamed. "What are you thinking about for breakfast?"

Yusuke shrugged, a gesture that she couldn't see with her back towards him. "Anything sounds good to me," he said. He didn't feel all that hungry, though. He felt a bit guilty, for having been so lazy. This whole dimension-saving business could've been time sensitive, after all. How was he going to get back to his definition of normalcy by sleeping in? He was tired of waking up and thinking everything was normal, only to find out that it was bat shit crazy. It had only happened to him twice, technically, but it was two times too many.

He got off the sofa, stretched, and headed off for the bathroom, taking yesterday's clothes with him.

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"Somethin' smells good," Yusuke said, walking through the door of the apartment's kitchen. It was fairly small, but it was definitely updated and modern. Kuroku was hovering between the stove and the sink, which were on different sides of the room, separated by a small island.

"Tamagoyaki," Kuroku replied simply, continuing to tend to it in its frying pan on the stove. "Take a seat; it should be ready soon," she said. "If I don't burn it, that is," Kuroku added as an afterthought.

Yusuke heeded her words and seated himself at the kitchen table. There was a small bottle of soy sauce that was capped with a tiny kitten's head. It was cute enough for the girls at Sarayashiki to squeal over; then again, pretty much anything could make them squeal.

"Alright!" Kuroku exclaimed, extricating the food from the pan. "I almost always burn it when I use a frying pan, but I was too lazy to wash the rectangular one. Try it out for me, would you, Yusuke?"

She put an omelet on the plate in front of him, turning towards the refrigerator. "What kind of tea do you want? Or were you thinking something else. If you want, I could get you some sake. Just promise not to tell, huh?"

Sake sounded good. It was something to take to numb his mind, just for a little while. It would be irresponsible to get tipsy now, with the whole time space continuum fucked up. But Yusuke was naturally irresponsible, wasn't he...?

"Tea," he said quickly, before he could change his mind. "Green tea is fine."

"Damn. I forgot to boil the water," Kuroku muttered, frustrated with herself. "You don't mind waiting a moment do you, Yusuke? I'll get you some water in the meantime."

She poured him a glass of water as he took his first bite of tamagoyaki. He hurriedly took another bite; it tasted pretty good.

Another plate, untouched, joined his on the table, along with two glasses of water. Kuroku continued to pan around the kitchen, until the kettle on the stove began to whistle. As updated as her kitchen seemed, it didn't yet have an electric kettle, apparently. Two cups of tea were soon poured, and Kuroku placed both on the table to steep.

"D'you like it?" she asked.

"Mm," Yusuke breathed around a piece of omelet.

Kuroku beamed. She took a bite herself, taking the first second to savor the food. She took a sip of water. "How do you like Tokyo this time around?"

"It's interesting," Yusuke replied truthfully.

"I'd expect so. As interesting as the circumstances that bring you here..." There was a long pause here, while Kuroku debated whether or not to breech the subject, the sensitive subject of Yusuke "running away from home." She decided against it and continued onward.

"Anything you want to do while you're here? I think they've got a martial arts tournament in town in a few days. Or we could go to some fancy restaurant, if you'd like. I know you're more of a buffet kind of guy, but I always feel guilty when you leave and I've spent hardly any money on you."

The conversation continued, a laundry list of things Kuroku wanted to do with. She interrupted her sentence of "Yusuke, I'm not sure if you've ever seen a circus before. I know you're probably not young enough to enjoy it properly anymore, but it's still one of those things to check off of your bucket list" with "I think the tea has steeped."

Kuroku began anew as the pair started to sip their tea. "It's just… You're always in the mountainside, at the temple. You rarely come around to Tokyo, and when you do..." There it was again, the question. Was she going to bring up the runaway situation this time, Yusuke wondered.

She was.

Kuroku began, a fiery, determined look in her eyes. "Whenever someone pisses you off, and you can't control the situation, you've got a bit of a habit of bolting. This isn't exactly the first time you've run to Tokyo. Remember three years ago, your fifteenth birthday? You went through that samurai anime obsession and took off when your parents didn't get you a katana, ignoring the fact that you had no idea whatsoever as to how to use one."

"I remember," Yusuke lied. "But they're... Those two aren't..."

"Not your parents? Is that what you want to say, Yusuke?" Kuroku asked. Her voice had lost much of its previous humor but was still calm, just quieter.

"Yeah," Yusuke said. "Not technically."

Kuroku took a lengthy sip of tea. It was more like a swig, Yusuke decided. "Technically, the two of them are the ones who've tucked you into bed since you were a child, read you bedtime stories, fixed you chicken noodle soup when you were sick, and helped you to tame your demon ancestry. Technically, they're the two people who love you the most in this world. But that's only technically, I guess?"

Yusuke grimaced. He was starting to feel guilty now. Like this dimension was his true reality. Like he'd actually abandoned parents who loved him deeply and dearly.

It bugged him.

He hated taking on unnecessary responsibility. It was like going to a sappy movie with Keiko and then feeling all sorry for the main character when her boyfriend gets killed in the war. It wasn't his problem, and, besides, the problem was fictional.

There was one main difference between here and the movies. Here, he had to work with it.

"It was just sudden," Yusuke replied. "I wasn't expecting it."

Kuroku sobered. "No one really is," she said softly. "You're welcome to stay here as long as you like, Yusuke. Think about it, or don't think about it, as much as you need, too."

"Thanks... Auntie Kuroku."

"No problem."

They went back to finishing breakfast, though not before Kuroku mentioned that a great comedy movie was opening at a nearby theater.

"I think I'm in more of a laidback mode, you know?" Yusuke said. "Movies and circuses and fancy restaurants sound nice an' all, but…"

"This just isn't the time?" Kuroku finished.

"Right."

"Mm," Kuroku said. She got up, taking both of their cleaned plates to the sink. She was silent for several minutes, which worried Yusuke somewhat. He hadn't heard silence properly since they'd started breakfast. (He ignored the fact that, technically, you could never hear silence.)

"If you promise," she said, reseating herself, "and I mean _promise_, to come back. I could… Well, I could give you a little money, and you could see the city. A few thousand yen, maybe, but no buying train tickets with it. Or cigarettes. Or porn. Or whatever the hell else eighteen year olds like to buy that's no damn good for them."

"I'll come back," Yusuke said, not knowing whether that was true or not, but he put on his most sincere face as he said it. "And you don't have to give me the money or anything. I just need to clear my head a little bit more. You know… Think."

"Thinking is good," Kuroku decided. "You gonna head out now?"

"If I could," Yusuke said. "Thanks for breakfast, by the way, Auntie Kuroku."

Kuroku shook her head. "Don't mention it, Yusuke."

As Yusuke stood, she left the kitchen. He went into the living room and pulled on his red jacket, preparing himself to leave.

"You honestly thought I was going to let you loose in Tokyo empty handed?" Kuroku asked, raising an eyebrow. She had several bank notes in her hand. "Let me spend some money on you for once, Yusuke." She forced the five, thousand yen bills into his hand.

"Thanks."

"Have a good time!" Kuroku called after him, as he left her apartment. "And be careful! Your mom won't ever forgive me if you fool around and get yourself killed!"

"I'll try."

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He couldn't help it. After he'd left the apartment, no strict goal in mind, he'd let his feet take precedence over his mind. They were busy walking to some destination he hadn't decided on yet, and his mind was only half functioning. If Hiei were here, he thought bitterly, he'd point out that it was _always_ half functioning. Well, so what if it was? Did he really need brain power like Kaito or Kurama's when he had his Amazing Yusuke Luck? Sure, you couldn't use it on a math test or anything, but it was pretty awesome during a fight. He ought to bottle it up and sell it; he'd make a fortune off of the stuff.

But despite whatever thoughts or lack of thoughts that were running through his mind, he found himself outside of the arcade. And, when his hands decided to join in league with his feet, he opened the door and soon found himself _inside_ of the arcade. Playing a game or two would help him think better, right? And he had five thousand yen on him. That should last him through more than a few rounds.

Game selection, game selection, game selection, Yusuke thought idly. The arcade wasn't very busy, probably because it was a weekday afternoon, and he had his pick of machines. He examined a few of the closer titles. A couple of them looked familiar.

"What the hell?" Yusuke spluttered after taking a closer look. "The Four Saint Beasts? Dark Tournament? Rescue the Ice Maiden!"

"That one's my favorite," a voice behind him piped up. Yusuke glanced over his shoulder to see a pimply faced teenager who apparently had decided that the arcade was better than school, very much like Yusuke most days.

"Great for you," Yusuke said sarcastically, reexamining the titles to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Rescue the Ice Maiden was running a demo scene, displaying a girl that looked very much like Yukina, if Yukina were a video game character that is. Yukina hadn't been wearing a bikini when he and Kuwabara had rescued her from Tarukane. No wonder that high school kid liked this game so much. Hiei would be pissed...

A quick glance at the artwork for Dark Tournament showed Cho, Touya, and the asshole that decided fighting Kurama unconscious was fair game. What had his name been again? Baka something or other.

All of this had to have been because of Warudo. Yusuke hadn't done any of this himself, and he was pretty sure that Kuwabara, Hiei, and Kurama hadn't been involved in any of it either. One look at the Three Dark Artifacts convinced him of that. One, he could see Gouki on the screen, but there didn't seem to be any Kurama or Hiei anywhere near him. Two, "Three Dark Artifacts" wasn't the catchiest game title. Warudo seemed like the type to go for properly descriptive titles as opposed to catchy ones.

Was Warudo doing all of this in an effort to cash out on Yusuke's adventures? It would've been way easier for him to just ask. "Gee, Yusuke, mind if I use your badass lifestyle to inspire a video game?" He would've said yes. Probably.

As intriguing as the Chapter Black game looked (a long awaited chance to finish Sensui off himself), Yusuke turned tail and exited the arcade.

"Can't believe he's getting between me and video games," Yusuke said, swearing at Warudo, Warudo's mother, and pretty much everything else in the world. How was he supposed to relax now—without the distraction of spilling animated blood?

He swore again.

Maybe he'd catch a movie or somethin'.

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Plan Movie Theater was just as much of a failure as Plan Arcade. Yusuke started swearing again as he looked at the headlining films. The movie poster for _Seven Psychics_ looked pretty damn close to Sensui et al. By the time his eyes scanned over a poster for _Rando: Demon with 99 Attacks_, he was half way around the block.

Was every Spirit Detective situation he'd ever faced going to get an endorsement in this world? It was like his life was a movie, and a video game, and probably several books and a couple of TV shows. Why was Warudo so obsessed with seeing every challenge Yusuke had confronted being profited off of? After a few moments consideration, Yusuke decided that Warudo must be rich as hell here. There was no way the royalties weren't buying him more of those weird metrosexual outfits.

Yusuke kept cursing Warudo's name the longer he walked (although, truthfully, he'd never stopped). The posters in the book stores (which he'd never even noticed before coming to this world, though that was probably owed to the fact that he avoided reading anything if he didn't have to) alluded to a new novel called "Three Kings." Yusuke had a feeling (or explicit knowledge, given that the posters named off the main characters as Raizen, Mukuro, and Yomi) he knew what it was about.

His frustration eventually surmounted to the point where he ditched the main streets and their Yusuke-related goods all together. He went from one alley way to the next, walking without any certain destination. The alleys looked dim and impenetrable even in daylight. They were the perfect haven for street punks.

Speaking of which...

"Oi! You over there!" a voice called. Yusuke stopped swearing momentarily, turning around to face a gang of seven thugs. The speaker seemed to be the leader, Thug Number One. He was standing at the center of the group, dressed in a gray jump suit, and had a lively looking mohawk. He smirked as Yusuke turned, displaying a golden canine tooth.

"You look like you wouldn't mind helping out a man in need," Thug Number Two said.

Fighting normal humans was more frustrating than anything. He could use it as an exercise in control, but exercises were no fun when compared to the real thing. Even though Keiko called him lazy often enough, it didn't mean he wasn't allowed to crave a challenge. Using everything you had felt good. It was better release than playing video games, even.

Yusuke smirked. "Can't say I hear that one a lot. Maybe you oughtta come over here and take it from me." So maybe he was trying to provoke them into a fight. When it came to having a weak fight versus no fight at all, Yusuke was feeling much more partial to the former.

Thug Number One motioned to his comrades to get things started. Soon enough, fists were flying from multiple directions, though they all agreed on one target: Yusuke. Yusuke wasn't an easy target, though. Sniper had found that one out a few years back, and these guys were getting their education now. Roughly twenty seconds after the fight had started, it was over. Assorted thugs number two through... seven, apparently, lay still on the ground.

The shocked look on Thug Number One's face quickly turned into a scowl. If he was smart, he'd turn tail and leave. He wasn't smart, of course, and he quickly launched himself at Yusuke.

"They never learn," Yusuke said with a mock sigh. The sigh turned into a full-fledged gawk as he watched Thug Number One approach him. His fists flew in the same wild style that Warudo had used at first. The thug had included a crazy battle yell that would make even the most enthusiastic anime series seem tame.

He was ready this time, though, unlike with Warudo, when the thug's form straightened out. He charged Yusuke with a switchblade, which was quickly intercepted. Thug Number One joined his fellows on the ground—unconscious.

"Fucking Warudo!" Yusuke said, to no one in particular, although he received an offended look from a nearby school girl. He ignored her and kept growling. He couldn't play a damn video game, fight meaningless thugs, or even see a movie—because of Warudo. And that wasn't even going into how he was stuck in an alternate dimension where none of his friends seemed to even exist and He. Had. To. Call. Toguro. Dad. When he found the punk he was going to beat the shit out of him.

Yusuke left the alley and returned to the main streets. Now should be a time for action, Yusuke thought. I've got stuff to do if I ever want to get out of here. People to find, demons to beat down...

Another few blocks of wandering and fruitless thoughts made him think of his stomach. His feet were sometimes stupid, like when they led him to the arcade, but occasionally had strokes of genius. They'd led him to the front of a casual restaurant. Perfect. When he glanced at the sign and saw that it belonged to the Yukimura's, he realized that he'd been wrong. His feet were always hopeless dumbasses.

Was he trying to see Keiko now? Given the facts he'd gained so far, there was pretty much no chance that Keiko knew him. He'd apparently spent his entire life at the temple and rarely came to Tokyo. His last name wasn't even Urameshi now, technically. It was...Toguro. Yusuke Toguro.

He tried to swallow past that thought as he realized that he wasn't feeling all that hungry anymore. A new feeling was emerging in the pit of his stomach. And it wasn't disgust at the fact that he'd just had to think of himself as Yusuke Toguro. He wanted to see Keiko, logic be damned.

He entered the restaurant, the sound of tinkling bells accompanying him.

"How can I help you today? You look like you're in for sukiyaki; we've got a special on it today." Mr. Yukimura said, greeting Yusuke with a sort of standard joviality that let him know that, in this dimension, unlike the one where Yusuke resided, he probably wasn't the closest thing the guy had to a son.

"No thanks," Yusuke said. "I didn't exactly come here for food. I wanted to know if Keiko is here."

The man's demeanor immediately changed, and Yusuke winced. He wasn't a pleasant restaurant owner anymore. "What do you want with my daughter? You stalking her or something? She doesn't talk to boys like you."

Of course she didn't, Yusuke thought. Across all dimensions, the only badass Keiko really hung out with was him. Yusuke's next words never formed however, as he soon heard a third participant in their conversation.

"Dad, what's going on?" the new voice asked. The voice was hardly new to Yusuke however. Young, sweet...

"Keiko," Yusuke said. Please know me, Yusuke thought desperately. Please know me.

"W-who are you?" Keiko asked nervously, moving to stand behind her father, clearly frightened.

Damn, Yusuke thought. In this world, he didn't have Keiko. He didn't know Keiko. Damn. Damn. Damn.

The sun, which was out and shining, seem to fade away into nothingness. If he didn't already know that this new dimension sucked, he definitely knew it now.

"He was just leaving," the man growled. Yukimura had picked up a butcher's knife and was aiming it at Yusuke.

"Yeah, yeah," Yusuke muttered, exiting the restaurant. Visiting Keiko can't hurt, my ass, Yusuke thought bitterly, kicking pavement as he went.

Fucking Warudo.

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Notes:


	5. The Fall of Autumn

"Start All Over"

By ss10009

Disclaimer:  
>YuYu Hakusho does not belong to the author of this story. Those rights go to Yoshihiro Togashi. This fanfiction is created for purposes not associated with profit. Meaning that, if you paid to read this story, well, you're a damn fool.<p>

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**CHAPTER 5 - The Fall of Autumn**

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"Does the name Sensui Shinobu sound familiar to you?" Yusuke asked. These words bypassed his response to Kuroku's greeting. After spending another ten minutes in the city after running into Keiko, he'd decided to get back to work immediately and talk to Kuroku.

"Sensui Shinobu?" she asked. "Doesn't ring any bells to me. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, uh… You're not still spirit detective, are you?" he asked.

"'Still spirit detective?" she asked bemusedly. "You didn't hit your head on anything while you were out, did you? I haven't been the spirit detective since you were a toddler. I haven't even spoken to Koenma in at least a decade."

"Do they still have them?"

"Spirit detectives?" Kuroku asked. Yusuke nodded his head in confirmation. "For a while after me, there wasn't one. But there's a new one now. I thought you knew, considering that your mother told me Koenma offered the job to you."

"I turned it down?"

Kuroku blinked, and she looked more worried now than ever. "You really did bump your head, didn't you? Were you in a fight?" She took his face in her hands as she tried to feel for a fever. "You feel fine, so tell me. What's up with all of these questions?"

"Uh… Nothing," Yusuke replied. "Just… Things have been weird lately, you know."

Kuroku nodded slowly. She was clearly thinking that the initial 'weird thing' was Yusuke's discovery of his adoption. Yusuke allowed her to believe this, deciding that the truth was just too damn complicated.

"So who's the new spirit detective?" Yusuke asked after a moment of lapse in the conversation.

"Hmm… I can't remember off the top of my head. Maybe, Fujiwara or something. I think it might have started with a 'G.' Possibly. I'll ask around."

"Kuwabara," Yusuke tried quickly, hoping beyond hope that something would go his way, dammit.

"Kuwabara," Kuroku said to herself. "Kuwabara! That's it. Kuwabara Kazuma is the new spirit detective. He's been working for a few years now, yeah. Why so interested in him?"

"I wanted to speak to him," Yusuke said. "See how things were going with his job an' all."

"Do you know him?" Kuroku asked.

"Not yet," Yusuke replied. "Do you know where he lives or anything?"

"I could barely remember the name, Yusuke," Kuroku chided. "I'll try and draw up something by tomorrow. Think you can wait until then to make introductions?"

He didn't want to wait until tomorrow. He wanted to do something now. Anything to get his interaction with Keiko out of his head. Of course, explaining why he was so desperate to get in contact with Kuwabara would've been difficult without some form of an explanation about The Truth. And, again, it was too fucking wacky for him to go into right now.

So he agreed with her. "Tomorrow's fine."

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It was six in the morning, and Yusuke was up for, apparently, no damn reason. The sunrise was still in progress, and the sky was a funny mixture of blue and pink. The birds near Kuroku's apartment were singing, shrilly and loudly. Yusuke swore. He was not a morning person.

Fuck my life, Yusuke thought, pounding his head into the soft cushions of the couch before rising up completely, meeting a view of the sky. It was funny. When he saw the world like this, detached and from behind windows, it was almost like there was nothing wrong with it.

"Up already, Yusuke?" Kuroku asked. She was dressed in conservative office wear, clearly in the progress of getting ready to head off to work. "Breakfast isn't done yet. Of course, it probably won't be done until you put it in the toaster. There's coffee in there, if you've started drinking it since I've seen you last. And there's an assemblage of frozen something-or-other's in the freezer. The frozen waffles aren't half bad if you're hungry. I have to go to work, so there isn't really time to fix anything close to a nice breakfast."

"It's no problem. 'Sides, I'm used to eating the food I can cook. And all of it pretty much comes from a microwave or a toaster anyways." Unless he was getting food from Keiko's. Which was pretty damn often. But he didn't say that.

Kuroku nodded, only half listening as she applied something to her eyes in front of the hallway mirror. She'd already put one of her hands on the door knob before she turned around to face him again. "I almost forgot! I have Kuwabara's address. It cost me a conversation with Koenma," she said, taking a piece of paper off of the hall table and handing it to Yusuke. "This is a sign that I care about you. I was well on my way to never having any sort of contact with Spirit World until I died, which served me just fine."

"Sorry," Yusuke said.

She chuckled. "I'm being over dramatic, Yusuke. It was no problem. Koenma was much too busy with stamping paperwork to get into any sort of lengthy conversation with me. But I've got you an address. And a phone number, too. He doesn't live particularly close to here, so you might want to call before you try an impromptu visit. It'd be pretty inconvenient if you got all the way there and he was out."

"Right," Yusuke said, only half paying attention as he examined the new address. Irony was a real bitch sometimes. Kuwabara lived about a block away from Kurama's apartment complex. He'd been so damn close, and he'd never known it. "Thanks."

Kuroku returned to the front door and opened it to leave. "I should be home around six o'clock. We can go out for dinner, if you'd like. Do you think you'll be here around six?"

He didn't know. He'd talk to Kuwabara, hopefully, but he wasn't sure what the game plan after that was. But sitting on his ass here wouldn't be a part of the grand scheme if he could help it. "Maybe," Yusuke replied. "You might want to go on without me."

"Alright. See you later, Yusuke. Don't do anything too crazy irresponsible today."

"See you, So— Auntie Kuroku."

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In the end, Yusuke didn't take Kuroku's advice of calling ahead of time. He'd stretched, decided to eat some frozen pastry whose primary market was probably ten years younger than him, gotten ready, and was out the door four minutes prior to half past seven. He locked the apartment behind himself, realizing he didn't have a key of any sort but guessing that, as Kuroku hadn't gone over this with him, there was probably a spare around here somewhere that he was supposed to know about.

The walk took about a half hour and only served to piss him off further. Everyone he passed on the way to Kuwabara's seemed to be humming happy songs under their breath and going about their morning in as jolly a fashion as possible. He'd passed by two bird baths on the way, and the robins and the blue birds seemed to be conversing in bird song. There might as well have been dancing antelopes on the way to Kuwabara's house. After all, some stray puppy had decided Yusuke was his new master and had stuck by him for damn near the entire journey. He'd only been able to shake the thing off as he entered the apartment complex. It seemed like the puppy could understand the posted "No Pet" policy next to the building entrance just as well as he could.

Yusuke idly examined the paper Kuroku had given him again. Kuwabara lived on the fifth floor, apparently, in the eighth room. He bypassed the elevator and took the stairs, two at a time, trying to go over what he and Kuwabara would talk about once he got there.

He didn't get too far in his plans, though, as he was at Kuwabara's door before he'd been able to strategize much of anything. He knocked and waited, hoping Kuwabara was at home. Maybe he should have called like Kuroku had suggested?

His hopes were rewarded though, and Yusuke recognized Kuwabara's face as he opened the door. Kuwabara looked at him and blinked. "Koenma told me you might come," Kuwabara said, before Yusuke could speak. "You _are_ Yusuke Urameshi, right?"

Hearing that question from Kuwabara felt strange. In this dimension, they'd never met. Which, in Yusuke's mind was pretty odd, considering the fact that, if you hopped over a dimension or two, they were best friends.

"Yeah," Yusuke said, giving Kuwabara a nod.

"Come on in," said Kuwabara. His voice was gruff, and, although he was trying for hospitable, he still sounded somewhat cold. This Kuwabara seemed hardened, more focused than the Kuwabara he knew.

"Nice place," Yusuke commented blandly. It was just stupid small talk, but the silence that had settled between them in the ten seconds since Kuwabara had last spoken was unnerving.

They were in the kitchen of the Kuwabara family apartment. Yusuke didn't notice Shizuru anywhere. "Tea?" Kuwabara asked.

"Sure." Yusuke took a seat.

The conversation was stiff and carried on like so until, after fooling around with a boiling pot and two cups, Kuwabara sat across from Yusuke at the kitchen table.

"So you're Master Genkai's son?" Kuwabara asked.

"More or less," Yusuke replied, figuring that freaking out about the question would just lead to a new series of questions that he didn't feel like trying to answer.

"You live way out in the mountains, don't you? I've heard you don't come down to Tokyo that often. And neither do Master Genkai or Master Toguro."

Yusuke shrugged and nodded. "And you stay here in Tokyo with your sister."

The moment he said it, Yusuke could tell that he'd done something wrong. Kuwabara tensed, and his eyes darted away from Yusuke's.

"I guess Master Genkai never told you the full story about that. I stay here in Tokyo, yeah, but not with my sister. She died when I was in junior high."

And now Warudo's world had killed of Shizuru. Brilliant. Yusuke was half certain that the girl was part cockroach, just like her brother, and couldn't be killed by normal means. Kuwabara had found strength in dumb luck, but Shizuru just had an exterior tough enough to border on impenetrable.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Yusuke replied. And he was. But he moved on, bypassing what he had meant to be light conversation in favor of getting to his main point. Warudo. "To be honest, I didn't come here to chat," Yusuke said, leaning forward as he placed his mug back on the table. "I came here to ask you a couple of questions. First things first… You ever heard of a demon called Warudo?"

Kuwabara tensed again. "Have I heard of him? It's weird of you to ask me that. Considering… Considering the fact that Warudo was the one who killed my sister. Well, Warudo's goonies, to be more exact."

Kuwabara leaned backwards in his seat, resting one of his hands on the handle of his mug with a pensive look on his face. "Warudo has been the main problem of Spirit World for a while now. And with me as Spirit Detective, it's been my main problem for a long while, too.

"I've been the Spirit Detective for years now," Kuwabara explained. "Ever since Warudo came up, really. Koenma always says that he's never seen a time so hectic…

"But I guess there's a little more you should know about me being the detective. I told you earlier that my sister was killed by one of Warudo's lackeys while I was in eighth grade. It was after school. We were going to go and get some pizza, just me and her. We didn't usually do that. She could usually come up with something better to do than hang out with her little brother. This guy jumped out at us with a switchblade. I thought he wanted money. I found out later he wanted blood. But I didn't know that, so I stepped up, ready to fight him.

"But then he… He did something. He changed. He wasn't human anymore, you know what I mean? His skin turned purple and he grew these huge horns. Bony little wings, too. I freaked out. I'd seen weird stuff before, but not that… pronounced, I guess. Shizuru—she didn't really flinch. She was always the brave type. It killed her in the end. He dodged me, not that hard considering the fact that I'd gone practically catatonic with fear, and then…" Kuwabara's voice cut off. Yusuke knew what happened next.

"A girl showed up. I don't know if you've met her before. Pink eyes, blue hair—."

"I've heard of her," Yusuke said quickly. "Goes by the name of Botan?" he asked, as though he wasn't entirely sure.

"Right," Kuwabara said. "Botan. She showed up and took me and Shizuru off to Spirit World. Shizuru was… Was gone, but she took us both anyway. It's just… I got to come back in the end, and she didn't. She told me about that guy. About what he was and about my awareness. Then I met her boss."

"Koenma," Yusuke offered.

He received a nod in confirmation. "He said that he had a job for me. Spirit Detective. That I would get to learn more about myself and avenge my sister's death. I'd get to stop things like that from happening again."

"And you took the offer?"

"I took the offer," Kuwabara said.

Funny, Yusuke thought. There wasn't any semblance of choice in Yusuke himself becoming a Spirit Detective; he'd never gotten a chance to turn it down, even though he'd wanted to. But a guy like Kuwabara just jumped on it in all dimensions, it seemed.

Kuwabara picked up his mug and took a short drink. He kept it up to his mouth for several moments afterward, even though none of the tea moved past his lips.

"I've heard a lot about Warudo lately, and I'm interested in taking him out. He's a real son of a bitch, you know that. But since I heard that you were the Spirit Detective now, I thought it'd be smart to recruit you. Strength in numbers, an' all."

Kuwabara didn't reply immediately, and, this time when he raised his mug to his lips, he drank deeply for several moments before attempting to reply. "If you're _really_ interested in killing Warudo, I'm all for it."

"If I'm 'really interested'?" Yusuke repeated. "I came all this way, right? Hell yeah, I'm interested."

"Sorry, it's just… You haven't been very involved with any of this before now. This is my first time meeting you, yeah, but it's not my first time hearing about you. Koenma's told me a little about you. He said that you didn't accept the position of Spirit Detective and that your entire family didn't plan on getting involved with Spirit World's fight against Warudo. From what I could tell, you and Master Genkai and Master Toguro were all about isolation. I didn't know any of that had changed."

"Whatever my stance was before, it's different now. All I want out of life right now is to see that guy dead," Yusuke said. "And you didn't seem like you'd be against it. Are you in?"

"I already am," Kuwabara said. "Yeah. I'm in."

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Yusuke was thoroughly pissed by the time he'd realized the consequences of his next decision. He had to finish tracking down the other key players. He'd done Kuwabara first, who was the easiest. He was stuck deciding between Kurama and Hiei. He figured Hiei would be the biggest challenge, so he decided to save him for last. That meant he was going to start by tracking down Kurama.

He'd left Kuwabara's kitchen in favor of Demon World. As the amount of vegetation grew, Yusuke knew that, eventually, he'd reach vegetation under the control of Kurama. That sounded exactly like a fatal way to end a terrible day. It was fitting.

"Looking for a fox demon, looking for a fox demon," Yusuke muttered to himself. "He's got white hair, about seven feet worth of height, a tail, and should be surrounded by a huge ass pile of treasure. And probably naked fox demon ladies. I mean, he's practically living out the life of a music video, right? Kuwabara made it sound way easier than this…"

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Once it was agreed upon that Warudo would be killed with joint effort, Yusuke was ready to leave. He stood, placed his cup on the table, and turned. "It's been nice," he offered, "but I gotta get going."

Kuwabara nodded wordlessly as Yusuke progressed towards the door.

He stopped short of the knob, contemplating his next move. He'd have to find either Kurama or Hiei next. And he had no idea as to where he should start looking. Maybe…

"Hey, Kuwabara, ever… Ever heard of any demons goin' by the name of Kurama or Hiei?"

"Hiei?" Kuwabara asked. "No, I've never heard of him. But I think everyone's heard of Kurama. If, by Kurama, you mean Youko Kurama, the fox demon thief."

Yusuke winced. How much fun would it be to try and entice Youko Kurama to join his services? "Yeah, that's the one."

"What about him? Are you trying to take him out, too?"

Yusuke paused. It would probably sound weird to say that his intention was to add Kurama to the anti-Warudo team he was assembling. "Somethin' like that, yeah."

"I wouldn't waste time on it. Spirit World can't dedicate any resources to him or his group. Warudo's the main concern, and—. I don't mean to tell you what to do or anything, but I've been told he's extremely dangerous and shouldn't be pursued alone. You should go for Warudo first, and then, if you want, I can help you with Youko."

"Thanks," Yusuke said. "But… Do you know where he is?"

Kuwabara scoffed. "He's not very hard to find, considering the fact that his robberies are pretty damn extravagant. He goes through periods of laying low and intense thievery, though. He's really tricky—you know, like a fox? Right now he's in one of his robbing periods. We're pretty sure he's somewhere southwest of where Gandara used to be."

Yusuke had an urge to ask him what he meant by what "used to be" Gandara, but he repressed it. He had nothing to do with Demon World politics in this world. All he wanted to do was find Warudo and kill him. It didn't matter if the rest of Demon World structure was coming down here.

"Thanks," Yusuke offered again, his hand finally twisting the door knob.

"No problem," Kuwabara said absent mindedly, draining the remainder of his mug of tea.

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And that had led him here. Standing in the middle of a forest that was starting to move. He was close alright. One wrong move and he could probably wind up like Karasu or Elder Toguro. Or pretty much anyone else that had ever pissed Kurama off. It was incredibly convenient for him to find Kurama by trekking through his booby trapped lair. Yeah, he should bottle and sell that Yusuke's Amazing Luck stuff, alright.

His entire body was on edge, ready to fight off whatever plant came at him. Any second now, something was going to happen. Something—probably one of the vines catacorner from him, they looked pretty damn suspicious—was going to turn into a personalized Yusuke death trap. Any. Second.

_Now_.

The intense rustle of leaves behind Yusuke alerted him to the problem. He turned quickly, index finger extended. He wasn't taking any chances here. The Spirit Gun probably wasn't overkill, considering the situation.

"Attacking me in my own territory?" a voice asked. Deep, masculine, and smooth. Youko Kurama. "That's very bold of you, stranger."

"The infamous Youko Kurama," Yusuke said, hoping this counted as a greeting that wouldn't piss Kurama off to the point of enacting that suspicious looking vine. "I've actually been wanting a word with you."

"A word?" Kurama asked. He hadn't come any closer, but, judging from his stance and the way his tail looked, the last thing he felt was threatened. That was good. A threatened Youko could mean a dead Yusuke.

"Yeah. You know… conversation," Yusuke replied lamely.

"And who exactly are you?" Kurama asked, eying Yusuke lazily.

"Ura— Er… Toguro Yusuke," he cringed inwardly. Had he just introduced himself as the son of Genkai and Toguro?

"Toguro, you said?" Kurama asked. "As in the son of Toguro and Genkai, winners of the Dark Tournament a few decades ago and human psychics."

"The one and only," Yusuke said.

Kurama smirked. "Well, what's their golden boy doing here, hmm? You're not doing work for Spirit World now, are you? I know that was never your parents' style…"

"I'm not here for Koenma or anything like that," Yusuke replied. "I just needed to…ask a favor."

"Favor?" Kurama asked. His tail was swishing slowly, back and forth, back and forth. "You've come all the way to Demon World to see me and ask for a favor? Very interesting."

"Yeah, real funny story," Yusuke muttered. "But you've heard of a guy named Warudo, right?"

Kurama didn't answer, and Yusuke hoped that, maybe, that was a positive reply.

"Well, I know he's trying to make Demon World into a he— hedge-thing," Yusuke said lamely. Dammit. He'd tried to use a vocabulary world and failed. Miserably. This was why school and him never got along.

"Hegemony," Kurama said, correcting him swiftly. "What of it?"

Crap. What of it. He wanted Kurama's help in taking Warudo down. He _needed_ it. But how did Youko Kurama, a demon, feel about a guy like Warudo? Maybe he liked what the guy was doing and didn't want to see him dead. That wouldn't be too far out of the realm of possibility. After all, because of Warudo, Spirit World wasn't even bothering to try and take care of Kurama anymore. The guy was a perfect diversion to his own thievery. There was a significantly smaller chance of Kurama ending up on the end of a hunter's arrow here.

What could he say now? 'Well, Kurama, how do you feel about that? And, by the way, if you don't like it, could you help me kill him? Pretty please?'

"I don't know about you, but I don't like him."

"He's taking over Human World; of course you don't like him. But you came here for to request something. Are you requesting my opinion of Warudo?"

"Look, I know that a lot of weaker demons see Warudo as a rallying point," Yusuke said, hoping against hope that the things Koenma had told him about Warudo a few dimensions over applied here as well. After all, he technically didn't know that what he was about to say was true. "But that a demon like you, who's strong, doesn't give a damn about him.

"So here's my big question," Yusuke said, looking Kurama dead in the eye. It felt weird doing that and seeing cold amber instead of friendly emerald. Without Shiori's care, Kurama was completely unrecognizable to Yusuke. "Would you help me defeat Warudo?"

There was a pause in which Yusuke could feel his skin tensing in wait of an answer.

"Alright," Kurama said.

"Alright what?" Yusuke asked confusedly.

Kurama's tail swished slightly; his two silver ears looked… amused? Could ears look amused? "You asked me to help you take down a demon by the name of Warudo. I consented."

"Right," Yusuke replied. Could it be this easy? He'd expected enticing Youko Kurama into his services to be a lot more difficult. He just didn't seem like the type of demon to be enlisted under a guy like Yusuke. Of course, most demons didn't seem like that type…

Kurama smirked slowly. "But I have a condition."

Shit. He knew it had been too good to be true. "A condition?"

"This demon, Warudo, I've heard rumors that he has the power to control time and space."

"You don't say," Yusuke said, wondering if his sounded sarcastic.

"You've heard of that as well, I presume?"

He must've sounded sarcastic, or at least unnatural, Yusuke surmised. Yusuke decided to skip the full story about how, you know, he'd been fighting the guy and arrived back here with the world upside down. He was pretty sure that wasn't going to gain Kurama's trust.

"Yeah, I've heard," said Yusuke, giving him the short version. The extremely short version.

"The power itself doesn't interest me anywhere near as much as something I've heard he's done with it. Something I've heard he has obtained."

Right. The King of Thieves. Of course Youko Kurama would want some kind of item to compensate for his participation.

"So what's that got to do with you and accepting this whole deal?" Yusuke asked, pressing his hands towards the table.

"If he has the item I desire, then I'll be… most pleased. If he doesn't have it in his possession, than you'll have wasted my time. Time is a very precious commodity, in a business like mine. So you'll understand if you meet up with terms that aren't very tasteful for you if I'm wrong about my speculations."

"So let me get this straight. You're going to join me in killing this guy. And if you find this mystery prize then nothing happens to me. But if you don't find it, something really bad happens on my end, right? And, just to be clear, you're not even sure if he has this mystery item?"

Kurama frowned. "Essentially."

"And, by something bad happening to me, I'm assuming you're talking death? Or maybe torture?" Yusuke asked nonchalantly, as though he were just wondering what Kurama took in his tea.

Kurama leaned backwards in his seat, a slow smirk spreading across his face. "You have a lot of appeal, Urameshi. I'm sure that kind of appeal would transplant easily into… the bedroom."

His heart stopped for a couple of seconds. Well, no, that's not true. His heart had already stopped a while ago, in the conventional sense, when he'd discovered his demon blood. But metaphorically at least, his heart skipped a couple of beats.

It wasn't every day that a friend propositioned you. Especially a friend of the same sex.

Yusuke tried to push himself to remember than, in this dimension, Kurama wasn't his friend. In this dimension, Keiko didn't even know who the hell he was. In this dimension, Genkai and freakin' Toguro were his parents, and damn near everything he'd done as a Spirit Detective was in an arcade or a movie theater or a bestselling novel or some shit. Kurama wanting him to be his personal love slave was not the weirdest thing that had happened to him recently. Not even the weirdest thing that had happened to him today.

"I'll accept those terms," Yusuke replied, trying to remind himself that, even if Kurama didn't find whatever item he was looking for, he wouldn't have to worry about being chained to Kurama's bed or anything like that. If they defeated Warudo, he'd be long gone.

"Then you have my aid," Kurama said.

It still chilled him though. As the deal came to a close, he could nearly see himself bent over double on some overlarge fox bed while Kurama held his rose whip or something.

He really wanted to go back to his own dimension…

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Notes:

1 - Kurama's Condition

Um… I've read so much YuYu Hakusho BL that I sometimes forget that the stuff isn't canon (except for the whole Sensui-Itsuki thing… and even then it's kind of unrequited). So I didn't even know how to give Yusuke a "Huh? Since when were you gay?" type reaction. I probably should have, but I didn't even know how to write it. I figure that Yusuke figures that Kurama's just bi, or something. Or maybe he doesn't even bother questioning stuff since it's another dimension. Yeah… That second reason sounded pretty good… Let's go with that, shall we?

2 – Irony

Yusuke says something along the lines of visiting Kurama's apartment and being so close to Kuwabara without knowing it… Or something. For the record, I know that's not actually irony, but that's how it's used colloquially, so I was pretty sure Yusuke wouldn't know better. I know some people have really strong feelings about the improper use of irony, so I didn't want to be attacked. :D


	6. All Parts for a Whole

"Start All Over"

By ss10009

Disclaimer:  
>YuYu Hakusho does not belong to the author of this story. Those rights go to Yoshihiro Togashi. This fanfiction is created for purposes not associated with profit. Meaning that, if you paid to read this story, well, you're a damn fool.<p>

**Warnings/Triggers**: This chapter has some cissexism in it. There are several casual equations between gender and sex organs here. Although, canonically, the Koorime must be pretty cissexist themselves if see a penis on a baby, assume cisgender man, and then proceed with infanticide. Makes me wonder how they deal with transmen…

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**CHAPTER 6 - All Parts for a Whole**

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Two out of three wasn't bad, Yusuke thought. You could pass an exam if you got two out of three questions right. Yeah, so technically it was a 'D.' But technically Yusuke didn't give a damn about academics the way that Kurama or Keiko did. At school, two out of three worked just fine.

But right now, he needed all of the three other key players. Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei. But he had no idea as to where Hiei was. He'd asked Kurama, before he left, but Kurama had said, in a roundabout sort of way, that he didn't know. He'd gone about it in a roundabout way, Yusuke surmised, because Youko Kurama wasn't the type of guy who liked to admit that he didn't know things.

If he thought about it logically, the differences in this world seemed to be derived from hypothetical questions. One different decision or choice could change your entire life, apparently. The hunter never got Kurama, so he was still kicking it in his demon form. And he wasn't Spirit Detective, so Kuwabara got the job. Toguro never made his wish, so he ended up in domesticity with Genkai. And he was their adopted son because Atsuko had fucked things up too much here. So logically, if Kuwabara and Kurama didn't know who he was, Hiei was probably some type of criminal and was flying under the radar. The only problem with that, of course, was that Demon World itself seemed to be comprised nearly entirely of criminals of some sort. Most of whom were "flying under the radar."

Shit.

He couldn't just wander all of Demon World in search of Hiei. Even if it were possible to go on a full-fledged man hunt, Hiei was pretty damn good at not being found. He wasn't the Flying Shadow for nothin'. Yusuke paused, leaning his back against a tree. Was he going to fail? Was he going to be stuck here forever? He'd be damned if he ever called Toguro 'Dad.' And Genkai wasn't 'Mom;' she was 'Grandma.' None of his friends knew him, and there was a flamboyant madman on the loose. This was not how he pictured the rest of his life going. Maybe he could find Warudo on his own, kill him (although that apparently wasn't "defeating him"), and repeat this entire experience in another universe. Maybe there he'd have a closer connection to Hiei. Maybe, in the next universe, Hiei and Kurama would have met up, become comrades, and were busy stealing tons of Spirit World shit. They'd done that before, right? That would make them much easier to find.

Whatever he did plan on doing, taking a break wasn't helping. Besides, he was barely far away enough from Kurama to not have to worry about some of these trees eating him. He was going to have to keep going and just make things up along the—.

Yusuke's attention sharpened as his focus shifted to his right. He'd heard a scream, high pitched and feminine. It couldn't have been more than a half mile off. Yusuke had been in Demon World long enough to know that playing the hero was next to pointless. Sure, you can solve the immediate problem at hand. Congratulations. But the potential victim will almost always wind up being an actual victim in no time. Weaker demons tend to have poor lifespans. And just because you've saved one person doesn't mean that you won't turn around and have fifty more to save. It was hard to get anything done if you spent all day saving people.

But Yusuke had spent over a year being employed as an unpaid hero. And some habits die hard. Or maybe he was just looking for a distraction, something to make him forget the fact that he had no idea what he was going to do next. But the former reason sounded a lot more selfless.

Yusuke's choice was cemented as he heard another scream. It was shorter this time. He was at the scene in less than a few seconds. There were two male demons, presumably (sometimes with demons it was hard to tell). They were both of the burly stock, with arms thicker than their own waists. Their entire bodies were covered in hair (or was it fur when it was that thick?), and Yusuke grimaced when he realized that, unless the hair was hiding them, they didn't have eyes.

"Hey, assholes," Yusuke shouted. Since they couldn't see him, they were going to have to work off of the audio.

One of them turned, though the other didn't bother looking (looking?) in Yusuke's direction. He was holding a body-shaped object: the girl who'd just screamed.

Whoever it was that was facing Yusuke said, in a booming voice, "She's ours! Get your own."

"Oh, yeah? 'Cause I'm pretty sure she doesn't agree with that," Yusuke said, pointing to the girl.

"Mind your own business!" He was at the end of his rope, whoever he was, and he flew at Yusuke with a nimbleness that belied his stockiness. But Yusuke could tell he wasn't going to be a problem. He drew back his fist, slowly gathering spirit energy into it... The demon lay flat on his back, body steaming, shortly after Yusuke threw his wind up.

If the dead demon's friend had possessed any eyes, they would've been wide open in shock. He backed away quickly, trying to retreat with the girl in his arms. His efforts were in vain, though, and his body fell not too far away from his friend's.

Yusuke examined the bodies briefly, satisfied that they were dead. "Hey," Yusuke called, looking over his shoulder for the girl. "You al...right?" His voice broke off as he took a look at the girl, who was now unconscious.

"No fucking way this is a coincidence," Yusuke said. He reiterated the statement again as he looked at an unconscious Yukina. The stock price for Yusuke's Amazing Luck was officially through the roof.

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Yukina wasn't visibly injured; she'd probably been rendered unconscious from a blow to the head. Yusuke was not a doctor, his biology grade had been proof of that, but she still had a pulse, and she felt kind of warm. Yusuke honestly didn't know if that was good or not. Should an ice demon be warm at all? Other than that, there weren't any obvious looking wounds. She would wake up on her own time—probably. Yusuke set her down on a comfortable looking spot of grass in front of a tree, and began to keep an attentive watch. He wouldn't have let anything happen to Yukina back in his own world, but Yusuke was pretty damn sure that, in this world, Yukina would know something about Hiei. And if he ever wanted to get back home, he was going to need Hiei.

Not too much later, Yukina awoke with a start, bolting upright into a sitting position. "Where am I? Who are you?" she asked, her voice sounded panicked, which was a reasonable tone considering her near kidnapping experience.

"I'm Ura— To—," Yusuke couldn't bring himself to say his surname was 'Toguro' again. "I'm Yusuke. I'm not trying to hurt you or anything. I rescued you from those guys back there."

Her breath was still labored, and her heart was probably still racing, but she looked grateful. "T-thank you," she said quietly. "I didn't know I was being followed until it was much too late. If you hadn't been there..."

"Hey, it was no problem," Yusuke said, already thinking about the best transition between this statement and asking of Hiei's whereabouts. He eventually said screw good transitions and plunged right into his most important question. It wasn't like he was good at having patience anyway. "But could I ask you something?"

Yukina nodded. "Of course," she said. She appeared much calmer now.

"Do you have a brother?"

Yukina's face looked, if he was naming his expressions properly, horrified. Fuck. Maybe Hiei didn't even exist in this universe, and Warudo was chuckling away right now. Koorime weren't supposed to have any male relatives, after all. He'd probably just offended her.

"'Cause... You know... You were walking all alone, and, a brother is the type of guy who makes sure nothing bad happens to you. Say, getting kidnapped," Yusuke said quickly, trying to back pedal on the broken down bicycle that was his life in this universe.

"I'm sorry!" Yukina said, her eyes widening. "My face must've looked... I do have a brother, actually. He would've protected me if he were here. But... Well, he's not. He's still in my homeland."

"By any chance, is his name Hiei?" Yusuke asked.

He was never going to stop surprising her, he figured. Her eyes got rounder again. "Yes! Yes, that is his name. You know him?"

"Kind of," Yusuke said slowly. "To be honest, I've been looking for him."

She must've gotten used to him by now. She just blinked. "Looking for Hiei?"

Yusuke nodded. "Yeah," he paused. "Say, do you think you could do me a favor?"

"You rescued me," Yukina said plainly. "Anything, of course."

"Mind taking me to see him?"

Yukina went very still, cueing a massive amount of mental swearing on Yusuke's part. With an expression like that, Hiei was probably still in the Ice Lands somehow. How was he supposed to go back to the Ice Lands with her, huh? They kind of had a No Penis rule in effect. Yukina looked away from him and swallowed. "I'm from a place where men are not allowed. Although my brother lives there, he does so in secret. It's forbidden, and contact is dangerous. But... But you saved me, so if you truly want to speak to my brother, I would feel terrible if I didn't allow you to do so. Perhaps the elders would make an exception."

From what Yusuke knew about the Ice Land elders, mostly that they threw a baby over a cliff, he was pretty damn sure they weren't going to make any exceptions. But fuck them. He just needed to talk to Hiei. And he'd be taking Hiei with him, so the land would be free of its Y-chromosomes once more. They shouldn't have too much of a problem with that, right?

"To be honest," Yukina continued, her voice growing quieter, "I've been thinking about ways to allow my family to leave for quite a while now. I want nothing more than for the three of us to be able to live in happiness! I don't want to have to lie about my brother anymore... Telling you, just now, that I had a brother felt... It felt very good."

Yusuke was silent for a few moments. "You want someplace for your family to go, huh? Have you ever thought about Human World?"

"Human World?" Yukina asked. "I... No, not really. I hear its more peaceful and beautiful, but... I could never imagine fitting in there as a demon."

"Being a demon in Human World isn't as bad as you think," Yusuke said. "Um... From what I've heard. I could help your family get there, if you wanted."

Yukina's eyes widened again. "You've already done so much for me! I'm afraid that I couldn't accept any more from you, Yusuke."

"Don't worry about it. Seriously."

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The farther along he and Yukina wandered, the more snow there was to obscure his vision. He saw the blue of Yukina's kimono vaguely in a sea of white. "Are you alright, Yusuke?" Yukina asked. "I know there's a lot of snow, but I promise that we're very close."

"Fine," Yusuke said quickly, trying not to let his teeth chatter. The only protection he had from the elements was his red jacket. He pictured the remainder of this trip being very unpleasant. And it wasn't like the end would be heaven. Trudging through snow was only going to lead to being in the Ice Lands.

Yukina stopped, though Yusuke couldn't tell until he'd almost run into her. He looked around, finally settling his gaze on the sky. The snow was still going, so it wasn't long before he was blinking snow drops out of his eyes.

"We're very close," Yukina said, "but from here on out it will be much more difficult for you to follow me. Please take my hand."

Yusuke obliged and grabbed hold of Yukina's hand, which was small and, unlike his own, warm. Intense snow obscured his vision altogether, and he couldn't make sense of his location at all. No wonder Hiei had needed a Jagan to get here. Within seconds, the only thing he could register anymore was the sogginess plaguing the hem of his jeans and the presence of Yukina's hand. He couldn't even pick up signs of her energy any longer. The barrier around the Ice Lands was strong, definitely.

There was no way of telling how long it had been since they'd begun walking or since he'd lost his sight (Yusuke wasn't the type to wear a watch), but eventually the snow began to dissipate. The first thing Yusuke saw was the red ribbon in Yukina's hair. From there, his vision continued to better itself. He released her hand a few moments later.

"Is this it?" Yusuke asked.

"We are at the very edge of the Ice Lands," Yukina said. She turned around to face him. "Before we continue any further, there are a few things you should know. Or, I suppose, one thing... My people do not know that my brother exists here. They believe that they killed him long ago for the crime of being a male ice demon." Yukina's tone on the word 'crime' was the first time Yusuke had ever heard her have some modicum of sarcasm. Yusuke wasn't sure if this was a personality break from his dimension or not. His universe's Yukina was sweet, but she'd never discussed anything heinous with him before. "Fortunately, their plan was foiled, and my brother is still alive and well. But he's in hiding. Please do not mention him to anyone you meet. If anyone knew he were alive they would try to kill him again. But my brother is very, very strong. I've left the Ice Lands before to get him things for training, swords and wards against…" Yukina paused before she could finish saying what the wards were against. Yusuke assumed that Yukina and Hiei's lineage, being half fire demon, was something of a sore, or at least not often talked about, subject for her. "I will never forgive my people for what they have done to him. And he will never forget it, of course. If he should decide to take his revenge on them, I... I don't know if I would try to interfere."

It obviously pained Yukina to say this. Despite their capacity for murdering her only brother, she still disliked the idea of allowing the ice maidens to die. Yusuke didn't press on the subject.

Yukina and Yusuke continued to walk for several paces until the snow had stopped falling altogether. They were standing atop a mixture of ice and hard packed snow that coated the ground for who knew how many feet up. There was foliage, Yusuke noted, although it too was covered in white. The dwellings were small and blue in tint, much like the color of Yukina's kimono. The only impressive structure that Yusuke could see was a tall, wide cliff that stretched into the sky and briefly disappeared in a cloud until it formed a narrow tip. Yusuke gritted his teeth. Clearly, it was the designated Baby Tossing cliff. He hadn't been in the Ice Lands for ten minutes, and he already hated his stay here.

Yusuke let the scenery fade into the background as he took in another aspect of the Ice Lands: its people. Unlike Yukina, they were statuesque and, although their faces didn't spell out malice, they certainly didn't have the same gentle look that Yukina had. Yusuke watched as, one by one, the eyes of the ice maidens caught sight of him and widened in fear.

The women around them walked more hurriedly, and they turned their faces away as they whispered to each other. It didn't surprise Yusuke that they lived here in isolation. From what he could tell, the Koorime could best be described as "meek." But he didn't understand how they could've thrown an infant over a cliff, apart from the obvious moral bankruptcy of the act itself, it seemed to be too active a role for them to play. Yusuke supposed that throwing defenseless Hiei over a cliff would've required a lot less nerve than fighting off adult Hiei. Also, they were much more likely to escape the first situation with their lives intact.

Either way, Yusuke hated them for it. He understood that, without being faced with challenges or terrible situations, none of his friends would be the way they are today. If he'd had better parents—not the Genkai and Toguro variety, mind you—he probably wouldn't have been out running the streets, and he'd have gone through the normal grind of life with ignorant happiness and no further knowledge of his demon ancestry. But he preferred the Yusuke he was now. Similarly, Hiei wouldn't be the same without having had a piece of shit for a childhood. And he liked Hiei. Sometimes he'd even go so far as to say he understood him. But at the end of the day, throwing a newborn off a cliff was a dick move.

"Yukina," someone said. The voice was cutting and jagged, and Yusuke could tell it belonged to an older woman before he turned around.

The woman in question was indeed old, as well as short and stout. She had gray hair and a staunch sort of determination about her that made Yusuke decide she must be the leader here. Her eyes cut between Yukina and over to Yusuke. She was the first one to look him dead in the eye since his arrival.

"Exactly what is going on here?" she said.

The bustle of the villagers began to slow. The woman's presence must've made them feel more confident, and their curiosity was finally winning out.

"I'm sorry, Lady Miyuki," Yukina said. Her voice was sweet, as usual, and Yusuke doubted anyone's ability to not accept one of her apologies. "But this man has saved my life."

Miyuki did not turn back to look at Yusuke, despite the reference to him. "You would not have a life that needed saving if you had not left. There was no reason for you to go, Yukina. You'll be trouble just as your mother was if you continue this." Miyuki's tone softened. It was brief, but it was sincere enough to let Yusuke know that this twisted old woman, who had probably ordered Hiei's death, had some semblance of a heart, frozen over as it may be. "You can be so much better, Yukina."

"No need to blame, Yukina," Yusuke said. He could practically feel Yukina tense up next to him. Him speaking probably wasn't going to gain them any points, but he couldn't hold off on it much longer. "It was no trouble at all on my part."

The woman's blunt choice to ignore him let him know, definitely, that Miyuki didn't have a single issue with whether or not Yusuke had undergone any trials in his rescue of Yukina.

"What exactly do you intend to do now that you have brought a visitor back here, Yukina? You cannot allow him to stay. And for bringing him back here, Yukina, it would take a great deal of compassion and blindness on my part to allow you to continue to stay. You've developed such a propensity for taking leave of the Ice Lands."

"I'm sorry, Miyuki... But I owe him a favor, and I could not go back on my word."

"What favor, Yukina? You haven't promised to lie with him, have you?"

Yukina choked. "N-no, ma'am. I would never promise such things. It's just that he needed to speak to my mother."

"Hina?" Miyuki asked, as though Yukina had several mothers from which to choose.

"Hiei," Yusuke corrected before he could stop himself, but he broke off his sentence at an unexpected pain in his foot. He looked downwards and saw Yukina's right foot several inches too far to the right. Had she just...?

"Yes," Yukina continued, and her voice was just as sweet as ever. If anything, her plight had become more and more sympathetic. "I know you don't like to talk about it, but we have a family connection."

So this Yukina can lie, Yusuke observed. I guess growing up with Hiei would make anyone less angelic…

Miyuki was looking more upset though. She was obviously biting her teeth together as the jaw bones on either side of her face began to protrude slightly.

"You should've brought your mother down to meet with him then. You know better than to think things can happen the other way around."

"You said that if she left again," Yukina said as she bit her lip, "she wouldn't be allowed back. You feared for her virtue."

"Then that means your reunion would have to come at a high price," Miyuki said.

"Miyuki, please. He's saved my life, and I've returned home. I don't intend to leave again. Could you just give us a few hours?"

The crowd was still there, Yusuke noted. And they were waiting. They were watching and waiting to find out what Miyuki would say. There must have been two sides at work here. Obviously, Miyuki, along with most everyone here, probably, had a soft spot for Yukina. That was a plus on the side of letting Yusuke stay. But the biggest taboo in the Ice Lands was allowing the entry of men. That was definitely going against his favor right now.

Yusuke's strength would tip the scale, though. If Hiei was around here somewhere, Yusuke was going to find him and damned be the consequences. He had enough power on him to rival either of the former lords of Demon World, and he wasn't going to let a shriveled up ice woman stand in the way of his mission.

The old woman began to walk away. That must've been the answer they were looking for.

"We won't have long," Yukina said, as Miyuki's back grew smaller and smaller. The villagers looked frightened again, and began to scurry along their way.

Yukina led him along for a while until they reached a hut on the far edges of the circling town that must've belonged to her and Hina and Hiei. Yukina entered first and motioned for Yusuke to wait behind her.

"Mother," Yusuke heard Yukina say, "I have a guest. A very special guest."

She had quite conveniently forgotten to mention that he was male. Maybe she was making pelvic thrusting motions to indicate his gender or something. This Yukina could've been crass like that for all he knew.

Yukina returned to the doorway and beckoned towards him.

When Yusuke entered, Hina's face did not indicate that she was surprised. Her features remained passive, and she looked neither curious nor frightened. It was funny that Yukina never mentioned that Yusuke had saved her life; it would have made a good introduction for why Yusuke, Yusuke of the Y chromosome, was stopping by.

Yusuke took a moment to observe his new surroundings. Their home was small, simple, and let in a few rays of sunlight from a window that overlooked a bed. Their home also only had one room apparently. Yusuke guessed that the bed Hina was standing in front of was hers and that the other bed, which was against the wall of the door he'd used to enter, was Yukina's. There was a small pile of shimmering jewels at the foot of Hina's bed: tear gems.

"He was very kind to me while I was away," Yukina said, and her eyes darted back towards Yusuke. For an ice maiden, they were quite fiery. Don't say anything, they said. Perhaps Yukina didn't want her mother to know how unsuccessful she'd been upon leaving the Ice Land. "And he asked a favor of me. It was quite simple, so I could not help but comply."

"Is the favor to meet me? To see the Ice Lands?" Hina asked, in a politely clipped tone that said 'I know that's not why he's here; get to the point—now.'

"I wanted to meet someone, yeah," Yusuke said, and he could practically hear Yukina clucking in disapproval of interrupting her, but he continued anyway. Maneuvering around in the Ice Lands involved way too much talking. Probably because it was run by women. "But I'm afraid I was trying to meet up with Hiei."

Hina's tone changed immediately, no longer polite or clipped but cold and piercing. "I don't know how you know my son," Hina, said, "but you must keep this secret to yourself. Everyone here, besides Yukina and me, believes that I killed my son long ago."

"That you killed your son?" Yusuke asked confusedly.

Hina paused. "I'm sure you've noticed that men are not accepted here in Koorime society. It was decided thousands of years ago that men brought pain and anguish to life and that they would not be allowed to live here, in the Ice Lands. They were right to an extent. There has never been war, murder, or rape in the Ice Lands."

"But by separating ourselves from those things that hurt us," Yukina said quietly, "we also separate ourselves from the things that bring us happiness. You can't know joy without pain, so we have peace but no passions."

"Yukina," Hina said, just as quietly. And Yusuke could tell that he was intruding on an old argument that cropped up a lot.

Yukina was silent, and Hina continued. "I believed as Yukina did, and I left the Ice Lands. I returned, eventually, and gave birth to twins: Yukina and Hiei. But men were forbidden here, and the elders would not allow me to keep my son. I knew better than bargaining with the elders, and so I consented quickly to their wishes. They wanted me to drop my own child over the side of the cliff of the Ice Lands.

"They assigned my best friend to do the job for me, but I consulted with her before Hiei was born. I would be the one to drop Hiei, after I gave birth, but she would bring him back to the Ice Lands."

"Bring him back to the Ice Lands?"

"Yes. There is a protrusion on the face of the mountain that ascends into the Ice World. We were able to sustain our energy to build a trap of ice there to catch Hiei's fall, and we retrieved him a few hours later. We kept him hidden here away from all of the others, for decades now."

"Look, I don't mean to cause trouble," Yusuke said. Had he ever said that before?

"Then leave," Hina said quietly. "No good can come to any of us by you prolonging your stay here. Your presence here is disruptive and will only cause more scrutiny to fall upon Yukina and myself. If we're being watched even more closely than usual, things will be dangerous for Hiei."

"I didn't say I could do that either. Just...Look, I need to speak with Hiei. It's a matter of life or death."

"Are you dying?" Hina asked hesitantly.

"Kind of. It's not really a personal death so much as all of Human World," Yusuke said. His eyes didn't leave Hina's, but Hina's eyes darted towards her lap. She began to play with her hands, twisting them over each other, before she spoke next.

"And how exactly can Hiei be of help to your cause? How did you know of his existence in the first place?"

Shit. That was a good question, the sort of question that a concerned mother would want answers to before she let a mysterious stranger speak with the son she'd nearly lost. "Spirit World," Yusuke said quickly. "Their intelligence is unmatched," he said. Bullshit. Bullshit. Bullshit. "And we, they, think that Hiei has great potential to help."

"Help doing what?"

Yusuke swore again. The only concerned parents he knew were the Yukimura's, and they were Keiko's mom and dad, not his. No matter how much they treated him like the son they never had, he never had to answer to them about anything remotely connected to the demons and apparitions. It was nice having a drunkard for a mother sometimes; she never asked any questions.

"Taking on a demon named Warudo. Heard of him? He's kind of in the process of taking over the world. Worlds. Probably all of them—even Meikai if he's feeling up for it."

"I wouldn't let Hiei involve himself in something that does not concern him. No matter how demons or humans or any other beings war, the Ice Lands remains safe and impenetrable through all of it. That's why living here is perfect."

"Don't be so foolish, Mother!" Yukina said. And she looked, if Yusuke was accurate in describing the expression on Yukina, livid. "I know that this place is your homeland, but we both know it's terrible. There's nothing we can do for it. Together, we can be together in Human World. Hiei will be free. We'll all be so happy. Why can't you understand?"

"Yukina, I—"

But Yukina was crying frustrated tears. Yusuke heard the sound of each tear hitting the floor.

"She doesn't understand," Hina said quietly.

"She understands fine," Yusuke said squarely. Yukina wasn't his sister or his girlfriend but he'd be damned if he just sat there and watched her continue to cry.

"The Ice Lands are not the real world," Hina said. "It's so much safer here. She'd barely been gone for a day before she was injured outside of our land. That's how you were kind to her, is it not? You saved her from some terrible fate, I know it." Yusuke's face was probably all the confirmation she needed. "I want the best for my family. I want Hiei's freedom. I want her happiness. But they can't be free or happy if they're dead."

She looked away, and Yusuke remembered the pile of tear gems next to her own bed.

"That's Demon World," Yusuke said. "I would take you to Human World. It's different there. There's nothing there to endanger your safety." Yusuke bit back images of the Black Black Club, the 'B' class demons who could freely traverse it, and everything he'd learned on the days when he'd stayed awake in history class. "The Human World means having happiness and freedom," Yusuke lied.

Hina's eyes swept between Yukina and Yusuke for several moments before she sighed deeply. "I won't tell you where he is," Hina said. "But I will have Yukina lead you there."

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Yusuke was fairly certain that Yukina was leading him around in circles, at the silent request of her mother, to keep Yusuke from figuring out exactly where they kept Hiei. Kept Hiei, like a highly dangerous pet or something.

Yukina approached a grove and paused briefly. "Hiei," she said softly. It wasn't a call; Yukina already knew he was there, just as Yusuke knew from the way he could feel Hiei's ki pulsating.

He was silent. Yukina opened her mouth to speak up again when there was a flash to Yusuke's right, the side where Yukina wasn't standing. Yusuke dodged the blade of Hiei's sword with speed he certainly had not had the first time he faced Hiei. Yusuke could see each of Hiei's movements clearly as opposed to a series of after images and flashes of light. This Hiei was better than the 'D' class demon he'd fought in an abandoned warehouse years ago. But not by much. This Hiei spoke a lot less than the Hiei he'd first met though.

"Hiei, stop!" Yukina cried out. "This man is a friend. He saved my life!"

Hiei pulled back his offense, sword still drawn, and stared at Yusuke as though his eyes (only two, this Hiei had no Jagan) would cut him in half just the same as his sword.

"Why is he here?" Hiei asked. His eyes were locked on Yusuke, never moving away once, as he moved to Yusuke's left—likely in effort to create a block between Yusuke and Yukina.

"He knew about you," Yukina said. "And he wanted to talk to you. He has an offer he'd like to make you."

"I'm not interested," Hiei said flatly.

Yukina bit her lip. "Hiei, please hear him out. I think you'll like what he has to say."

Hiei wavered—briefly. There was a beat before he said again, "Not interested."

"How 'bout you go back to Hina, Yukina," Yusuke suggested quietly. "Hiei and I are the only guys up here, so I think we might wanna talk this one out man-to-man."

Hiei's hand tightened around the hilt of his sword. "Go, Yukina," he said.

"You won't..." Yukina said, and she trailed off. You won't hurt him, will you? Had that been what she was about to say? Yukina must have sensed it just as well as Hiei did, Yusuke was stronger. The conversation he'd bought himself with Hiei likely only came from fear that Yusuke would overpower him and kill both him and Yukina. This way, Hiei must've thought that he'd bought his sister some time in case Yusuke tried to strike Yukina down. It was nice to see that this Hiei cared about Yukina just as much as his dimension's Hiei did.

But his care was misplaced; if Yusuke could help it, there wasn't going to be a fight. Yusuke wasn't looking to kill Hiei, and this Hiei definitely couldn't kill Yusuke. But this Yukina didn't know that, and she retreated uncertainly, as though she feared she had made a horrible mistake but could see no way to rectify it.

"I'm only here to talk, not to hurt anyone, and not to test your strength," Yusuke said as Yukina left their range.

"What are you here to talk about?" Hiei asked. These were the first words he'd directed at Yusuke, and they were as sharp as his eyes and the edge of his blade.

"Human World. Know anything about it?"

"It's where humans live."

"Ask a dumb question," Yusuke said under his breath before trying again. "What about Warudo? He's a demon. Ring any bells?"

Hiei didn't answer. He looked bored and annoyed, like Yusuke was wasting all of the precious time he spent alone by himself on a floating mountain of ice where only three people knew he existed.

"OK. So Warudo is a demon who's amassed an army, and he's knocking on the door to Human World really politely before he says 'screw it' and just busts down the whole damn thing. And then once he's there, he's going to go for the whole world domination thing, and before you know it, Human World will be gone. At least, for all the humans. They'll probably all die once demons overrun it."

Hiei thought about that for a moment. "I fail to see the problem."

"Thought you might say that," Yusuke said.

"I also don't believe you mentioned an offer," Hiei said. "If you haven't got anything of worth to say, I suggest you leave."

"Of course I've got an offer. According to Spirit World intelligence," Yusuke said, reminding himself not to laugh at the combination of 'Spirit World' and 'intelligence,' "you'd be critical in securing a win in the fight against Warudo. So you understand that we'd be willing to make this a sweet deal on your side. I mean, you've been up here for decades by now, by yourself, training. Warudo would be a great opportunity to test your own strength."

"Yes," Hiei said scathingly. "I'll run off and test my own strength and die in the name of Spirit World."

"You think you're not strong enough to take on a couple of demons?"

"'Amassing an army' and assembling a few followers are two scenarios. I'm no coward, but I'm no fool."

"So you're not even a little curious? About life... Life out there?" If this Hiei had no Jagan Eye then he had no way of locating the Ice Lands on his own. He must've lived in this same small stretch of secluded land for some indiscernible amount of time. "You ever plan on leaving this place?"

"Of course I plan on leaving," Hiei said bitingly. "And when I'll do, I'll leave a trail of Koorime blood behind me."

"No offense, but Koorime aren't exactly the strongest fighters. I'm pretty sure you could do that now, if you wanted."

"As if I don't want to. Everything that you see here is more complicated than it appears. If strength were the only required condition I could've left here within a year of my birth and carved out a place for myself in Demon World." Hiei spoke quickly with his mouth twisted into a grimace and his eyes narrowed and angry.

Yusuke was quiet for a moment, but he could nearly feel Hiei seething across from him. Yusuke wasn't sure if Hiei was angry at him, for prying where he didn't belong, or if he was angry at himself—for revealing so much.

"I was hoping you'd agree to help."

"I don't know why you expected me to give a damn about Human World, if your Spirit World intelligence is so robust."

"I was hoping you'd agree to help because I've already promised Yukina that, if we can defeat Warudo and reclaim Human World, she and your mom can live there if they want."

Hiei laughed humorlessly. "Again, if Spirit World is so intelligent, why do you think I have any desire to live amongst humans? They're just one foolish herd."

"You might not have any desire to live there," Yusuke said, "but Yukina sure does. She'd be safer there. And happier there. And you might not be able to be open about everything, but overall it's a hell of a lot less taboo for you to be there than it is for you to be up here."

Hiei was silent.

"But none of that will be true if Warudo gets his hands on it," Yusuke finished. "He and his followers will have destroyed everything about it. They'll make it like Demon World. And you can't just grab Hina and Yukina and make a new home in Demon World, can you? Because it isn't safe for Koorime, is it? Being up here so long has made them and their tear gems more valuable, I bet. And no matter how strong you are, protecting them in a place as violent as Demon World would always be difficult.

"And you said it yourself. You're no coward, but you're no fool. You know the risks for if you fail."

And Hiei couldn't just leave either. This Hiei had grown up with his family. Leaving would mean entering into Demon World and infiltrating it deeply enough so that his sister and mother wouldn't feel tempted to visit. A visit from Hina would mean her permanent exile. And, as Yusuke had seen earlier, a visit from Yukina would likely result in no visit at all because there was such a high chance of her being abducted.

This Hiei was unwilling to say goodbye to his family.

This Hiei also remained silent, and Yusuke couldn't tell how far along he was in the decision-making process. Yusuke looked into the distance. He hated this place, and he'd only been here for a few hours. Was Hiei honestly having to think about whether or not he wanted to leave it?

"If you don't like it," Yusuke said softly, "you could go back to Demon World, someplace else. You can check on Yukina and your mother whenever you want to, you know."

The edge on Hiei's voice receded, and his new, cooler tone reminded Yusuke of Hina's tone earlier. "If that's true, then I can come back here later. And I can kill everyone."

"Sure," Yusuke said pleasantly. It was common courtesy to remain pleasant even around those planning genocide.

Hiei hesitated for a moment before his grip on the hilt of his sword tightened again. "If you go back on your word, I promise on the head of Enma himself that the first person I kill will be you."

Yusuke couldn't help but grin. "Whatever you say."

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Notes:

1 – Plot Holes

I kept forgetting my vision for this chapter. Like, at first I wrote Yukina one way. Then I wrote her another way and totally forgot about the first way. Then I had Hiei in one place, but I moved him somewhere else, and I forgot about the first place (again). Then Yukina explained all of this in one place, but then Yusuke didn't know the stuff she explained two paragraphs later. Then Hina was dead, but suddenly I gave her lines and... Wow. I almost created a vortex worth of plot holes by the time I'd reached like...the tenth paragraph. I thiiink I caught most of them though.

2 – Time between updates

I don't know what to say about this other than "I AM REALLY, REALLY SORRY!" So many thanks to everyone who is still reading this story and sees this chapter despite the amount of time since the last chapter I posted. At this point in time, there are three more chapters left to go before this story is over. And two of those chapters have next to nothing written for them. And then the one that has a lot written for it…is the last chapter. Typical. But I feel comfortable saying I will see you sooner next time than I saw you this time.

3 – Ice Net Baby Catcher Thing

My brain couldn't logic. I don't know how safe it is to catch a baby in a trap made of hard ice, but I'm guessing it's better than like…letting them fall into the savage land of Demon World.

4 – Yusuke's Koorime Knowledge

I don't think Yusuke should know anywhere near this much about Hiei's background in canon. But he does here. Because I'm tired, and I don't actually have an explanation to give as for why. I'm posting this now, so I feel triumphant, and I am not going to let little things like logic slow me down.


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